A Royal win for CSK

CHENNAI: Chennai Super Kings (CSK) breathed life into its playoff aspirations with a commanding five-wicket victory over Rajasthan Royals (RR), securing its 50th home win in the IPL at Chepauk.

Sanju Samson’s decision to bat, following the toss win, didn’t foresee the struggle of Rajasthan’s batters as they struggled to put runs on the board. Despite the wicket being utilized twice this season, it turned slow, and the ball wasn’t coming onto the bat as the batters would have liked.

The first boundary of the innings came after 16 balls, and CSK managed to keep the Rajasthan batters silent during the powerplay. Both Tushar Deshpande and Maheesh Theekshana continued to dominate Rajasthan’s batters in the opening overs. The moisture was dissipating from the surface, taking the pace off the ball, as Rajasthan’s Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler struggled to get going.

The introduction of Simarjeet Singh in the seventh over paid dividends as he struck off his second ball to remove Jaiswal. The latter went for the pull, but the ball got the better of him, and Ruturaj Gaikwad took his first catch of the innings. Simarjeet struck once again in his next over to remove Buttler. It seemed like a desperate shot from Buttler, realising runs were hard to come by, playing a full offside ball without conviction, straight into the hands of Deshpande at deep fine-leg.

CSK introduced Ravindra Jadeja thereafter, who had a rather sedate start. Riyan Parag, who’s been having a great season, introduced himself with a six, and a few overs later, he got lucky due to a fumble by Theekshana at the boundary, who had the sun directly in his eyes. Parag survived once again in the latter stages of the innings in the 18th over when Sameer Rizvi, running in from long-on, couldn’t hold onto the catch.

CSK’s Shivam Dube took a catch at backward point to remove Shubham Dubey, who had to depart for a duck. Parag finished at 47 not out, and Simarjeet, who had picked two against Punjab Kings, bettered his performance by picking three on Sunday and finished with his best bowling figures in IPL as CSK was set a target of 142 to win.

Rachin Ravindra flicked one to deep square leg off his bat, a feel-good shot followed by a maximum off Trent Boult in the third over. Ravichandran Ashwin was introduced early, and he made it count by dismissing Rachin Ravindra, who was getting into his groove.

Daryl Mitchell and Gaikwad kept the scoreboard ticking, but the introduction of Yuzvendra Chahal resulted in Mitchell being caught on the pads with no bat involved.

Moeen Ali was sent out to take charge of the game, but he had to depart after scoring 10 runs, caught by Avesh Khan at deep cover.

However, Gaikwad remained resilient from the start, and Rizvi’s cameo helped CSK cross the line, securing the win with 10 balls to spare.

BRIEF SCORES: Rajasthan Royals 141/5 in 20 overs (Riyan Parag 47*, Simarjeet Singh 3/26) lost to Chennai Super Kings 145/5 in 18.2 overs (Ruturaj Gaikwad 42 not out)