Ambati Rayadu completes 200 matches in IPL career

CHENNAI: Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batter Ambati Rayadu has completed 200 matches in his Indian Premier League (IPL) career.

The 37-year-old accomplished this milestone in his side’s IPL 2023 match against Delhi Capitals in Chennai.

In his 200th IPL match, Rayadu scored 23 in 17 balls, with his knock consisting of a four and a six. His runs came at a strike rate of over 135.

Throughout his IPL career, Rayadu has scored 4,308 runs in 184 innings at an average of 28.53 and a strike rate of 127.27. He has scored a century and 22 half-centuries in his career, with best score of 100*.

He represented Mumbai Indians from 2010-2017 in 114 matches. He scored 2,416 runs at an average of 27.15 at a strike rate of 126.16 for the franchise, with 14 half-centuries. His best score was 81*.

Then since 2018, he has been representing CSK. So far, he has played 86 matches for CSK, in which he has scored 1,892 runs at an average of 30.52 at a strike rate of 128.71. He has scored a century and eight half-centuries for the franchise, with best score of 100*.

He lifted the IPL trophy with MI (2013, 2015 and 2017) and CSK (2018 and 2021) a total of five times.

Opting to bat first, CSK posted a respectable total of 167/8 in their 20 overs. No batter could touch the 30-run mark. From the top order, Ruturaj Gaikwad (24) and Ajinkya Rahane (21) scored some useful runs. Contributions in the middle order came from Shivam Dube (25), Ambati Rayadu (23), Ravindra Jadeja (21) and MS Dhoni (20).

Mitchell Marsh was the pick of the bowlers for DC, taking 3/18 in his three overs. Axar Patel got 2/27 in his four overs. Lalit Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav and Khaleel Ahmed got one wicket each.

In the chase of 168, DC’s top order imploded once again and was reduced to 25/3. Then a 59-run stand between Rilee Rossouw (35) and Manish Pandey (27) brought back DC into the game. Axar Patel played a useful cameo of 21 runs, but it was not enough to keep up with the escalating run rate. DC lost the match by 27 runs.

Matheesha Pathirana (3/37) was the pick of the bowlers for CSK. Deepak Chahar also took 2/28 in his three overs. Ravindra Jadeja also took a wicket.

Jadeja won the ‘Player of the Match’ award for his all-round performance.

With this win, CSK is in the second position with seven wins, four losses and a total of 15 points. One of their matches ended in no result as well. DC is still at the bottom of the table, with four wins and seven losses. They have only eight points to their name.

Brief Scores: Chennai Super Kings 167/8 (Shivam Dube 25, MS Dhoni 20; Mitchell Marsh 3-18) vs Delhi Capitals 140/8 (Rilee Rossouw 35, Manish Pandey 27; Matheesha Pathirana 3-37).