A vintage MS Dhoni-show was on display on Wednesday night at the MA Chidambaram Stadium as the Chennai Super Kings captain smashed an unbeaten 32 off 17 balls, but could not manage to get his team past the finish line in a last-ball thriller against Rajasthan Royals.
Chasing a target of 176 on a slow turner and with dew coming down in copious amounts, Dhoni came out to bat with Chennai needing 63 runs from the remaining 30 balls and he and Jadeja managed to bring the equation down to 21 off the last 6. In the end, with Dhoni on strike, CSK needed 5 off the last ball and the skipper managed a single. Rajasthan won the game by 3 runs and have now moved to the top of the IPL standings.
Brilliant bowling by Rajasthan Royals spinner Ashwin (2-25) and Chahal (2-27) off their respective four overs had hampered Chennai Super Kings' chase as they had recovered from losing an early wicket to reach 78/1 in the 10th over.
After being put into bat first by MS Dhoni, Rituraj Gaikwad got out in the third over, for eight runs.
Opener Devon Conway, who had struck Adam Zampa to two boundaries in the fifth over, and seasoned Ajinkya Rahane (31) had repaired the innings but things went downhill for CSK on their home ground after Ashwin trapped Rahane in front to give Rajasthan Royals the much-needed breakthrough.
Ashwin also got Shivam Dube (8 off 9) while Adam Zampa accounted for the dangerous Moeen Ali (7 off 10) and Chahal sent back Ambati Rayudu (1) as Chennai Super Kings slumped to 103/5. Chahal then claimed the prized wicket of Devon Conway (50), and Chennai Super Kings looked down and out.
However, skipper MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja struck some big blows as they pulled CSK to 40 runs needed off the last two overs. Dhoni and Jadeja hammered Jason Holder for two sixes and a four as they raised 19 runs from the 19th over.
With CSK needing 21 runs off the last over, Sandeep Sharma started with a couple of wides and then Dhoni smacked sixes off the next two deliveries off two low full-tosses and Chennai needed seven from three deliveries. Jadeja and Dhoni could score only singles off the last three deliveries as they lost by three runs.
Earlier, Jos Buttler was once again the top-scorer for Rajasthan Royals as the English limited-overs skipper made 52 to help the team post 175/8 on Wednesday night.
Buttler and Devdutt Padikkal (38) helped Rajasthan Royals smash 57/1 in the powerplay and take them to 87/1 by the ninth over but Jadeja sent back Padikkal and Rajasthan skipper Sanju Samson (0) in quick succession on a pitch that offered turn and bounce as CSK fought back to take control of the match.
Chennai's rookie pacer Akash Singh, who claimed his first two wickets in IPL for 40 runs and Tushar Deshpande bagged 2-37 as the hosts managed to restrict the once-galloping Royals.
Asked to bat first by Dhoni in his 200th match as CSK skipper, the Rajasthan Royals innings developed in a stutter, smash, stutter mode as they lost Yashasvi Jaiswal (10) early with 11 runs on the board. They raced to 57/1 at the end of the powerplay and looked like they were cruising towards a huge total with Buttler and Padikkal going great guns.
Padikkal smashed Maheesh Theekshana for two successive fours in the third over and then the pair hammered the Sri Lankan for 17 runs in the fifth over with Buttler smacking him for a six and four while Padikkal hit a beautifully-driven boundary. Padikkal also struck Tushar Deshpande for back-to-back fours in the sixth over while Buttler bashed his England teammate Moeen Ali for successive sixes in the eighth over.
But Chennai Super Kings applied the breaks with Ravindra Jadeja claiming two quick wickets. He made the breakthrough for CSK by getting Padikkal to top-edge to deep backward square leg as he attempted to sweep one that pitched outside the off-stump. Padikkal scored 38 off 26 balls, hitting five boundaries.
And when the left-arm spinner got Royals skipper Sanju Samson for a two-ball duck, getting him with a brilliant delivery faster one that straightened after pitching on middle and turned to beat the outside edge and crashed into the off-stump.
The going for very slow for the Royals as Buttler, who was galloping earlier became cautious, while R Ashwin, dropped by Moeen Ali off the first ball he faced, initially struggle to get the ball away as Rajasthan Royals managed to reach 95/3 at the halfway mark and were 119/3 at the end of the 14th over in which Ashwin managed to hit Theekshana for his first four.
Ashwin tried to shore up the scoring rate by smacking debutant Akash Singh for back-to-back sixes but the bowler had the last laugh as he got Ashwin out, attempting to heave a length delivery over mid-off but ends up skying it for Magala to take a simple catch.
Buttler completed his half-century off 33 balls but was out soon, sent packing his teammate Moeen Ali for 52 off 36 balls, hitting one four and three sixes.
Simron Hetmyer hammered an 18-ball unbeaten 30, hitting two fours and two sixes but the quick dismissals of Dhruv Jurel (4) and Jason Holder (0) meant, Rajasthan Royals managed to reach a below-par score.
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