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Rajasthan Royals skipper Ajinkya Rahane won the toss and asked the Chennai Super Kings bat first on very hot , conditions at Chennai. The Royals were keen to put their campaign on track after two successive losses while CSK were aiming for their third win in a row.
RR bowlers struck early with the likes of Ambati Rayudu, Shane Watson and Kedar Jadhav departing early. The innings was tottering at 27 for 3 . Then the experienced Suresh Raina and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni got together and forged crucial partnership. They played sensible cricket and rotated the strike and punished the bad balls . The pair put on 61 for the fourth wicket. Raina fell for 36
Despite the fall of wickets at the other end Mahendra Singh Dhoni used his vast experience and played a very controlled innings . He was watchful in the beginning and opened up later in devastating fashion towards the end and power his side to a competitive total of 175/ 5 . Dhoni who scored fantastic unbeaten 75 off 46 balls added 56 runs with Dwayne Bravo ( 27) .
For the Royals, Jaydev Unadkat (1/54) once again was the culprit as he conceded 28 runs in the final over with Dhoni finding three of his four sixes in that over after Ravindra Jadeja (8) lofted the paceman for a maximum.
Unadkat was bought by the franchise at a whopping Rs 8.4 crore during the 2019 IPL auction. Except his price he has virtually nothing to show on the field with the ball. He has been the weakest link in the Royals bowling umpteen number of times, yet he finds his place in the eleven. Last year he was bought for Rs 11. 50 crore.
Dhawal Kulkarni 1/ 37 ( 4 overs) Jofra Archer 2/ 17 ( 4 overs) was outstanding , Ben Stokes 1/ 30 ( 3 0vers)
The Royals needed a good start to the chase but they were rocked early with the dismissal of skipper Ajinkya Rahane ( 0), and soon in- form Jos Buttler fell for 6. Last match centurion Sanju Samson too did not last long . Out for 8. Rahul Tripathi ( 39) Steve Smith ( 28) got starts but could not carry on.
Ben Stokes nearly pulled it off for the Royals he fell for 46 just when he was needed. Jofra Archer threw his bat around for unbeaten 24 runs. But the Royals fell agonisingly short by 8 runs. Finishing at 167 / 8 . Dwayne Bravo defended the 12 runs needed in the last over with a brilliant spell.
For CSK, all bowlers bowled well and bagged crucial wickets – Deepak Chahar 2/ 19 ( 4 overs), Shardul Thakur a bit expensive 2/ 42 ( 4 overs), Imran Tahir 2 / 23 ( 4 overs) Dwayne Bravo 2/ 32 ( 4 overs)
