Rajasthan Royals (RR) defeated Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by 3 runs in match number 17 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Wednesday.
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CSK’s Devon Conway hit a fifty as the spin trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal and Adam Zampa spun things back in favour of RR.
Ravindra Jadeja and MS Dhoni took the game to the last ball of the match with some lusty blows but just fell short.
Dhoni (32 off 17 balls) and Ravindra Jadeja (25 off 15 balls), veterans of many such tantalising finishes were on course as 21 was needed off the last over. CSK’s final score was 172 for 6 as Dhoni didn’t end his 200th game for CSK in a manner he would have liked in his spiritual home with 30,000 plus spectators rooting for him.
Punjab seamer Sandeep, who played a couple of games for India eight years back, seemed to lose his nerve as he bowled a couple of wides and then Dhoni whipped him over square leg and mid-wicket for a couple of sixes.
Needing 6 off the last two deliveries, the medium pacer got a wide yorker to Jadeja and then a perfect block-hole ball to Dhoni as it fetched a couple of singles.
However, Devon Conway had a scratchy approach on a tacky pitch as his 50 off 38 balls didn’t provide the momentum with Ravichandran Ashwin (2/25 in 4 overs) and YUzvendra Chahal (2/27 in 4 overs) bowling exceptionally well.
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Earlier, Jos Buttler struck a 36-ball 52 as Rajasthan Royals posted below-par 175/8 in 20 overs against Chennai Super Kings’s Ravindra Jadeja-led disciplined bowling performance.
Buttler and Devdutt Padikkal (38) helped Rajasthan Royals blast 57/1 in Power-play and take them to 87/1 in the ninth over but Jadeja claimed two wickets — getting Padikkal and Rajasthan skipper Sanju Samson (0) in quick succession on the a pitch that offered turn and bounce as CSK fought back to take control of the match. Chennai’s rookie pacer Akash Singh, who claimed his first two wickets in IPL for 40 runs and Tushar Deshpande bagged 2-37 as the hosts managed to restrict the once-galloping Royals.
Asked to bat first by Dhoni in his 200th match as CSK skipper, the Rajasthan Royals innings developed in a stutter, smash, stutter mode as they lost Yashasvi Jaiswal (10) early with 11 runs on the board. They raced to 57/1 at the end of the Power-play and looked like cruising towards a huge total with Buttler and Padikkal going great guns.
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Both Buttler and Padikkal went after the bowling with Padikkal smashing Maheesh Theekshana for two successive fours in the third over. They then hammered the Sri Lankan for 17 runs in the fifth over with Buttler smacking him for a six and four while Padikkal hit a beautifully-driven boundary. Padikkal also struck Tushar Deshpande for back-to-back fours in the sixth over while Buttler bashed his England teammate Moeen Ali for successive sixes in the eighth over.
But Chennai Super Kings applied the breaks with Ravindra Jadeja claiming two quick wickets. He made the breakthrough for CSK by getting Padikkal to top-edge to deep backward square leg as he attempted to sweep one that pitched outside the off-stump. Padikkal scored 38 off 26 balls, hitting five boundaries.
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And when the left-arm spinner got Royals skipper Sanju Samson for a two-ball duck, getting him with a brilliant delivery faster one that straightened after pitching on middle and turned to beat the outside edge and crashed into the off-stump.
The going for very slow for the Royals as Buttler, who was galloping earlier became cautious, while R Ashwin, dropped by Moeen Ali off the first ball he faced, initially struggle to get the ball away as Rajasthan Royals managed to reach 95/3 at the halfway mark and were 119/3 at the end of the 14th over in which Ashwin managed to hit Theekshana for his first four.
Ashwin tried to shore up the scoring rate by smacking debutant Akash Singh for back-to-back sixes but the bowler had the last laugh as he got Ashwin out, attempting to heave a length delivery over mid-off but ends up skying it for Magala to take a simple catch.
Buttler completed his half-century off 33 balls but was out soon, sent packing his teammate Moeen Ali for 52 off 36 balls, hitting one four and three sixes.
Simron Hetmyer hammered an 18-ball unbeaten 30, hitting two fours and two sixes but the quick dismissals of Dhruv Jurel (4) and Jason Holder (0) meant, Rajasthan Royals managed to reach a below-par score.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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