RR vs CSK Match Summary: Mitchell Santner held his nerves to hit a six in the last ball of the final over only to win the match for Chennai Super Kings on Thursday.
Another hell of a contest. Once again, the match had gone down to the last ball of the final over and the team batting second winning in the end, it had everything- drama, emotions, and excitement to its peak.
Chasing a par 151-run total on a Chepauk wicket, CSK had the worst of starts, having lost Watson only in the first over of the second innings. What followed thereafter was a collapse as in the space of six overs of Dhoni and Co. found themselves in all sorts of trouble at 24-4 in just six overs.
Dhawal Kulkarni and Jaydev Unadkat gave Rajasthan Royals a brilliant start with the ball while defending a sub-par total in the second innings. The duo claimed as many as 3 wickets in the power play overs and helped Royal place on top at a crucial juncture of the game.
However, the Royals didn’t find any success in the next eleven overs as it was another day to witness Dhoni’s run-chase spectacle.
MS Dhoni then joined hands with Ambati Rayudu in the 6th over in a bid to register his 100th win the Indian Premier League as captain. The former Indian skipper targeted Royals’ spinners and didn’t take too much risk off the faster men early on in the innings.
CSK’s skipper struck 3 sixes and two fours in his another match-winning knock of 58 off 43 deliveries, while his ally Ambati Rayudu also looked in complete control in his 57-run knock until his skied a catch straight to deep mid-wicket in the 18th over only to leave MS Dhoni in the middle of a chase with 32 still needed in 14 balls.
The leader of the pride in all glory with the bat! #Thala for a reason! #WhistlePodu #Yellove 🦁💛 pic.twitter.com/jmpr3ZJfXR
— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) April 11, 2019
With 16 needed off the last over, Jadeja hit the first ball of the final-over, over long-on for a six, followed by no-ball and one run, and a two, as CSK were needed 6 in three balls as CSK were on a course for another win on Thursday.
However, Dhoni’s finish was dampened by a brilliant Yorker only to smash the base of the middle stump to leave the crowd stun in silence at Chepauk. The drama continued till the last ball only to see CSK home in the end, and in the process registered its sixth win in seven matches.
Earlier, Rajasthan Royals posted a competitive 150 on a sluggish pitch. Skipper Ajinkya Rahane and Jos Buttler gave Royals a rollicking start, notching as many as 30 runs in the first three overs.
Skipper Rahane was looking solid, fetching as many as three boundaries in his 14-run cameo, however, missed the last delivery of the third over completely only to get hit on the pads.
Sanju Samson having recovered from the injury, scored a six in his 6-run innings, while Australia’s skipper too couldn’t stay any longer, getting out on 15 off 22 deliveries.
Rajasthan Royals’ this season haven’t looked to take the responsibility to score big and anchor the innings to post a competitive total on the board. Once again, Jos Buttler, after getting a decent start played a needless shot to gift his wicket away off Shardul Thakur. Buttler had already struck Thakur for three consecutive fours and in an attempt to hit the fourth one, the English wicket-keeper batsman miscued the one to get caught.
Rajasthan Royals scored 53 runs in the first five overs, however, in the next 10 overs, Ajinkya Rahane and Co. could only amass 50 runs in the next ten overs. Given no player could reach even a 30-run mark, Royals never looked like getting more than 130, however, a late flourish from Shreyas Gopal in the final over off Shardul Thakur helped Royals post a par 150-run total in 20 overs.
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