MATCH REPORT
Follow UsIt was a must win game for Rajasthan Royals, they needed 190 runs to chase, everything was against them. But the Middle East, with a good wicket often brings the best out of the Royals and it surely brought the best out of the two openers – Yashasvi Jaiswal and Evin Lewis.
Chasing 190, Rajasthan’s southpaw pair had to get the franchise off to a good start and that’s exactly what they did. 8, 16, 17 and 12 runs from the first four overs allowed the Royals to get themselves to 53 in just four overs, with Lewis scoring ten-ball 24 and Jaiswal scoring 14-ball 28.
Even a change of angle did not work for Josh Hazlewood, who was trashed for 22 runs in the fifth over, taking his bowling figures to 0-38 in just two overs while Jaiswal reached his half-century in just 20 balls, with six fours and three sixes.
While Shardul Thakur did strike for the Super Kings, the Royals had already added 77 runs to their score board within the powerplay. In fact, they had the highest score in the powerplay this season, scoring 81 runs, the best they have done against any opposition in IPL history. Even the quick wicket from KM Asif, who was brought in the side for Deepak Chahar did not aid the Super Kings, who were blown away by some mighty batting.
"It was a bad toss to lose to start off, but I feel the Royals batters batted really well. Around 250 may have been about right on that surface (laughs). There was dew and the ball started coming on well, still you needed to bat well and that's what they did. An ideal start in a tall chase where they took the game on in the PP,” said Chennai’s skipper MS Dhoni.
Shivam Dube, who walked in at No.4, replacing Mahipal Lomror struck the ball ever-so-sweetly to put constant pressure on the opposition, who found no answers to the questions he posed. Alongside skipper Sanju Samson, the southpaw put on an 89-run partnership with Dube staying unbeaten on 64 off 42 deliveries, a knock which consisted of four boundaries and four sixes, as they won by seven wickets, with 15 deliveries to spare.
It was a tough night for the bowlers, especially the Super Kings group, with Thakur being the best of the lot, with figures of 2/30. Asif picked up one wicket but conceded 18 runs in his 2.1 overs. The rest of the pack, Sam Curran, Hazlewood, Moeen Ali and Ravindra Jadeja conceded runs in plenty. Curran endured a tough night, finishing with figures of 0/55 on his return for the franchise.
Ruturaj Gaikwad’s supremacy
Earlier in the evening, Chennai after losing the toss were sent to bat first by the Royals skipper Samson. Chennai got off to a watchful start, scoring 44 runs in the powerplay on the back of the efforts of Gaikwad and Faf du Plessis.
While the introduction of Rahul Tewatia accounted for du Plessis, who scored a 19-ball 25, Chennai’s decision to give Suresh Raina some game time backfired massively. The experienced campaigner could only score three runs off the five balls as the Super Kings started losing momentum in the encounter.
However, Moeen Ali’s 17-ball 21 combined with Gaikwad’s brilliant acceleration kept the Super Kings in the game. It wasn’t until the 11th over when the Punekar took the attack to the Royals with his fifth boundary of the innings. From the 15th over, however, Gaikwad turned the screw around, with twin sixes off Rahul Tewatia’s bowling to put Chennai in a good position.
In the span of two overs, Chennai lost both Ali and Ambati Rayudu but Gaikwad ensured that the scoring never stopped, with 14 runs of Akash Singh’s last over, reaching 80 off just 52 deliveries. The partnership between Ravindra Jadeja and Gaikwad, 55 runs off 22 deliveries ultimately put Chennai in a commanding position.
“When you lose the game, it can get brushed under the carpet but he batted very well to get us up to 190. The batsmen need to assess quickly what a good score is. In T20s, you tend to go hard and then realise it's not a 160-180 wicket. They've done it well, assessed really well. The same thing can happen in the knockouts too, we've done it well, learning from each and every game. Don't think we could've scored more than 190,” added Dhoni.
And Rajasthan’s skipper Samson agreed, “Unbelievable batting by Gaikwad, we're afraid of a batsman like him. Really a lot of respect to him.”
The 24-year-old opener scoring his maiden century in the shortest format, off 60 deliveries and also topping the tally for most sixes in this year’s competition with 20 sixes, as he combined with Jadeja 32 off 15, to take Chennai to 189.
Brief Scores: Rajasthan Royals 190/3 (Shivam Dube 64*, Yashasvi Jaiswal 50; Shardul Thakur 2/30) beat Chennai Super Kings (Ruturaj Gaikwad 101*, Ravindra Jadeja 32*; Rahul Tewatia 3/39) by seven wickets with 2.3 overs to spare.
Player of the Match: Ruturaj Gaikwad (101 off 60 deliveries)
