Hetmyer’s Royals makes it two wins in a row
(IPL) Rajasthan Royals made it two wins in a row as they beat Chennai Super Kings by three runs in a thrilling Match 17 of TATA IPL 2023 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai yesterday. Jos Buttler (52 off 36) and the spinners starred as RR survived a late onslaught from MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja to edge CSK in a thrilling contest. Buttler was ably supported by Devdutt Padikkal (38 off 26), R Ashwin (30 off 22) and Shimron Hetmyer (30 off 18) as RR posted a competitive 175/8. The RR spinners then got into the act, choked the CSK batters, picked up regular wickets in the middle overs before Sandeep Sharma held his nerve to defend 21 off the last over against the rampaging Dhoni and Jadeja.
Chasing 176, Chennai Super Kings were pegged back early via some disciplined bowling from RR. They lost the inform Ruturaj Gaikwad early as he topedged one off Sandeep Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal pouched a good catch. RR gave away just one four in the first three overs. Rahane and Devon Conway then got going with a four each off Jason Holder in the fourth over. Conway hit a couple of fours off Zampa and was a bit lucky with the second one as Sandeep Sharma couldn’t hold on to a difficult chance at backward square leg off a powerful sweep shot which burst through his hands and raced away to the fence.
Rahane hit the first six of the innings as he lofted one over wide long off, off R Ashwin as RR reached 45/1 at the end of the Powerplay.
Conway hit a couple more fours as the duo brought up the fifty-run stand off 33 balls. Some smart placement saw them accumulate 15 runs off the over with four twos and a cracking four through extra cover by Ajinkya Rahane. Samson then brought back Ashwin and the move worked as he trapped Rahane (31 off 19) LBW off a Carrom ball to break the 68run stand as CSK reached 80/2 at the end of 10 overs.
RR built the pressure and Ashwin reaped the rewards of some tight bowling as he sent back Shivam Dube, trapped leg before wicket. Chahal could have had Moeen Ali in the next over as he got a bottom edge trying to hoick one but keeper Samson couldn’t hold on to it.
Moeen though couldn’t last long as he holed out to deep backward square leg via a superb catch by Sandeep Sharma off the bowling of Zampa. CSK then introduced Ambati Rayudu as their Impact Player in place of Magala. But he too couldn’t make an impact as he mistimed one to deep midwicket where Hetmyer took a very good catch, off the bowling of Chahal.
Conway, who held fort at one end, then brought up his fifty off 37 balls. But he too couldn’t carry on as he miscued the next ball to extra cover off Chahal and Yashasvi took another good catch. The wickets kept falling and the pressure kept building. RR bowled brilliantly in the 1017 over phase as they conceded just 42 runs and scalped four wickets. Ashwin finished with a very good spell of 4-0-25-0 while Chahal finished with an impressive spell of 4-0-25-2. With 54 needed off 18 balls, Dhoni released the pressure valve with a four and a six off Zampa to bring the equation down to 40 off 12.
Jadeja then hit two sixes and a four off Holder in the penultimate over to take 19 off the over and bring the equation down to 21 needed off six balls.
Sandeep was handed the ball to bowl the last over. He started off with a couple of WIDES. He then bowled a very good yorker for a dot ball but erred in length next ball, bowling a full toss, Dhoni swung it behind square leg for a four to bring the equation to 13 needed off 4. Dhoni swung the next ball over deep midwicket for a six off a low full toss to bring it down to 7 off 3. He then swung at one again but mistimed it to deep mid-wicket for just a single as Sandeep changed sides and bowled from round the wicket. Sandeep then darted in a very good yorker outside off and gave away just a single to jadeja. With 5 required off the last ball, Sandeep bowled another brilliant yorker from round the wicket which Dhoni heaved away straight to deep mid-wicket for just a single as RR won the match by three runs. Dhoni remained unbeaten on 32 off 17 balls while Jadeja remained not out on 25 off 15 balls.
Earlier, Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni, who was leading the franchise for the 200th time, won the toss and elected to bowl. They made three changes to the starting XI as Moeen Ali, Maheesh Theekshana and Akash Singh replaced Dwayne Pretorius, Mitchell Santner and Deepak Chahar. They named Ambati Rayudu, Mitchell Santner, Subhranshu Senapati, Shaik Rasheed and Rajvardhan Hangargekar as their substitutes.
RR made two changes to the starting XI as Devdutt Padikkal and Kuldeep Sen replaced Riyan Parag and Trent Boult(niggle). They named Riyan Parag, KM Asif, Donovan Ferreira, Adam Zampa and Joe Root as their substitutes.