Match Analysis: CSK stifles RR to a hat-trick of losses; signs off home league campaign on a high

CHENNAI: The Chennai Super Kings bowlers were top-class on the slow pitch at Chepauk as they helped CSK sign off their home league campaign with a victory against Rajasthan Royals and keep them in the playoff race here in Chennai on Sunday.

Despite losing the toss for the 11th time, the bowling department of CSK was right on the money from the start, even without their prime bowlers in the eleven.

They only conceded 42 runs in the powerplay, which put a lot of pressure on the RR openers. Tushar Deshpande, Shardul Thakur, and Maheesh Theekshana gave them no room to drive by bowing at hard lengths, which made them go big after the powerplay, which resulted in a top-order collapse.

Simarjeet Singh, playing only his third match in the season, was given the seventh over, surprisingly, rather than CSK’s usual Ravindra Jadeja.

But that proved to be the best decision for CSK, as he got the wickets of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, and Sanju Samson, which stopped the flow of runs.

After the only left-hander (Jaiswal) got out, Jadeja picked up the ball and completed his spell, giving away just 24 runs.

In the end, RR only managed to score 141/5 at the end of 20 overs, which for sure is a below-par score even on a slow track.

In reply, the CSK openers showed intent right from the start, with Rachin Ravindra taking on Sandeep Sharma in the second over and hitting him for a six in mid-wicket, followed by the boundaries in the third over off his compatriot Trent Boult.

Despite Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin dismissing the foreign top order of CSK, skipper Gaikwad’s anchor role, staying at the crease till the end, helped CSK cross the line with 10 balls remaining in the innings.

This victory puts CSK in the third position in the points table with a comfortable net run rate in their bag.

They will be up against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), who won five games on trot and climbed to the fifth spot in the points table.

However, RCB will need the help of Delhi Capitals (DC), the same team they knocked out of the playoffs, to defeat Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in their next fixture, which will boost RCB’s playoff chances given that they are far ahead of LSG in net run rate.

Even if everything goes well for RCB, they still need to defeat CSK by a margin of 18 runs if they bat first or 11 runs if they chase.