Chennai Super Kings’ three-game winning streak came to an abrupt halt, when MS Dhoni’s men faced Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur’s Sawai Mansingh Stadium, for match 37 of the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) season. Chasing a target of 203 runs, the four-time champions could only muster up 170/5.
The big total demanded a flying start to the chase, but it was quite the opposite, as the in-form opening pair of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway struggled to take the attack to Sanju Samson’s bowlers. The powerplay produced only 42 runs, as opposed to Rajasthan’s 64, and to make matters even worse, Adam Zampa got the better of the Kiwi batter in the sixth over’s very last delivery.
The Aussie spinner, who starred with the ball for Rajasthan in this game, added another crucial wicket to his name by sending Gaikwad packing in the 10th over, before Rahane followed suit hardly a couple of minutes later – with Ravichandran Ashwin being the wicket-taker this time around.
Impact substitute Ambati Rayudu could not contribute anything towards his team’s cause, and at 73/4, it seemed that the game is all but out of CSK’s grasp. A 41-run partnership between Moeen Ali and Shivam Dube did bring Chennai back into the hunt, but for the third time on the night, Zampa was the party spoiler as he dismissed the former.
Dube scored a half-century, with Ravindra Jadeja remaining unbeaten on 23 as Dhoni did not come out to bat.
Jaiswal’s 77, Jurel-Padikkal’s Cameos Helped RR Create Record
Earlier, Rajasthan’s star-studded batting department, which had transitorily lost rhythm, returned to their best in this game. Opting to bat first against a high-flying Chennai Super Kings, Sanju Samson’s men recorded the highest IPL score in Jaipur's Sawai Mansingh Stadium – 202/5.
The tone was set from the very beginning, with the first over producing 14 runs – courtesy of three boundaries from Yashasvi Jaiswal’s willow. The next couple of overs yielded 28 runs, with the Royals’ tally reading 42 runs after only the first three overs.
Sri Lankan spinner, Maheesh Theekshana’s inclusion into the bowling attack did help Chennai slow Rajasthan’s scoring rate, but it could not prevent Jaiswal from recording his third half-century of the season.
The breakthrough, however, arrived soon – in the ninth over, when in an attempt to send a Ravindra Jadeja delivery into row Z, Jos Buttler found Shivam Dube at long-on. Though the hosts entered three figures in the next over, the scoring rate took another hit.
To make matters worse for Rajasthan, the re-introduction of Tushar Deshpande in the 14th over worked wonders for Chennai. The pacer first dismissed the opposition’s skipper, who could only score a run-a-ball 17, before dismissing Jaiswal, who was only 23 runs away from what would have been his maiden ton in this competition.
Shimron Hetmyer has been playing the finisher’s knock to near perfection this season, but could not replicate his usual exhibition in this match, with Theekshana dismissing him when the Caribbean power-hitter was batting on 8 runs.
With Rajasthan’s score being only 153/4 after 17 overs, and two batters at the crease in Dhruv Jurel and Devdutt Padikkal, it seemed that MS Dhoni’s bowlers would be successful in restricting their opponents to a score of under 180.
That, however, was not to be, with both Jurel and Padikkal going all guns blazing. The former scored a 15-ball 34, whilst the latter remained unbeaten on 27 off 13 deliveries. For Chennai, Tushar Deshpande picked up the most wickets (2), but with figures of 4-0-24-1, Theekshana was the most impressive.
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