CHENNAI: Opener Jos Buttler’s half-century followed by a dominating performance from the bowlers helped Rajasthan Royals beat Chennai Super Kings by three runs in their Indian Premier League match here on Wednesday to go on top of the points table. Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (32 not out in 17 balls, one four, three sixes) and Ravindra Jadeja (25 not out in 15 balls) after the half-century of opener Devon Conway (50), chasing the target of 176 runs for the Royals. , one four, two sixes) scored 172 runs for six wickets despite an unbroken partnership of 59 runs in five overs of the seventh wicket.
Ravichandran Ashwin (2 for 25) and Yuzvendra Chahal (2 for 27) were the most successful bowlers from the Royals. Royals’ three wins from four matches have tied them with Lucknow Supergiants on six points but the team is at the top due to a better net run rate. The Royals had earlier scored 77 for the second wicket with Devdutt Padikkal (38) and 47 for the fourth wicket with Ravichandran Ashwin (30) in addition to a half-century from Butler (52 off 36 balls, one four, three sixes). Scored 175 runs for eight wickets with the partnership.
Shimron Hetmyer (30 not out in 18 balls, two sixes, two fours) played a fiery inning in the last over. Chasing the target, the Superkings got off to a bad start. The team lost the wicket of Ruturaj Gaikwad (08) in the third over itself, who was caught by Yashasvi Jaiswal after waving Sandeep Singh’s ball in the air.
Conway and Ajinkya Rahane (31) hit fours on Jason Holder. Conway welcomed Zampa with two fours while Rahane hit Ravichandran Ashwin for the first six of the innings as the team posted 45 for one in the team power play. Conway and Rahane preferred to rotate the strike in the middle overs but did not hesitate to teach the bad balls a lesson. Ashwin then returned to the bowling and trapped Rahane lbw to end his 68-run partnership with Conway. Rahane faced 19 balls and hit two fours and a six.
Superkings scored 80 runs for two wickets in 10 overs. Ashwin gave the third blow to the Superkings by lbw to Shivam Dubey (08). The century of runs of Superkings was completed in the 14th over but in the same over, Moin Ali (07) caught Sandeep on the ball of Jampa in an attempt to increase the run rate.
Ambati Rayudu was also caught by Hetmyer off Yuzvendra Chahal after scoring just one run, leaving the Super Kings at 103 for five. Conway hit Chahal for a four and then completed his half-century in 37 balls with three runs, but in the same over he was caught by Jaiwal by waving the ball in the air. He hit six fours while facing 38 balls. Superkings needed 63 runs in the last five overs.
Ashwin scored only four runs in the 16th overs while Chahal gave only five runs in the next over. Superkings needed 54 runs in the last three overs. Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni hit Jampa for a four and then a six but only 14 runs were scored in the over. Ravindra Jadeja kept the Superkings’ hopes alive by hitting Holder for 19 runs in the 19th over with two sixes and a four. The Superkings needed 21 off Sandeep’s last over.
Dhoni hit Sandeep for two consecutive sixes but could not hit a four to tie the match or a six to win the match in the final over. Earlier, in the 200th match, captaining the Super Kings, Dhoni decided to bowl first after winning the toss and Tushar Deshpande (2/37) dismissed the in-form Yashasvi Jaiswal (10) at mid-off in the second over of the innings. Caught by Shivam Dubey. Royals sent Padikkal up the order and he looked in great touch right from the start.
He started off with two consecutive fours off Mahesh Teekshana while Butler also hit a six and a four in the off-spinners next over. Padikkal hit Deshpande for two consecutive fours as the team scored 57 for one in the power play. Butler welcomed Moeen Ali with two consecutive sixes but Ravindra Jadeja (2/21) had Padikkal caught by Devon Conway at deep backward square leg in the next over. Padikkal hit five fours in 26 balls.
Jadeja bowled Royals skipper Sanju Samson (00) a ball later while Ashwin was lucky the next ball when Moeen dropped a simple catch in the slips. After Jadeja’s two wickets, the Super Kings bowlers curbed the run rate. The century of Royals’ runs was completed in the 12th over. After a slow start, Ashwin hit Akash Singh (2/40) for two consecutive sixes but was caught by Sisanda Magala in the same over. He faced one four and two sixes in 22 balls.
Butler completed his half-century in 33 balls with two runs on Tekshana but was bowled by Moeen in the next over. He hit one four and three sixes in his 36-ball innings. However, he could not hit any boundary for more than eight overs before getting out. Hetmyer took the team’s score past 150 runs in the 18th over with a six over Deshpande. Hetmyer also hit Akash for a six but Dhruv Jurel (04) handed the catch to Dubey. Deshpande sent Jason Holder (00) to the pavilion in the last over.
