RAJ MAHAL!
Rajasthan beats Chennai by five wickets to finish second in the table
MUMBAI: Rajasthan Royals ended its league commitments with an emphatic five-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings in the IPL here on Friday. The win enabled Rajasthan to secure second place in the standings with 18 points and ahead of Lucknow Super Giants by virtue of better net run rate.
Set to chase 151, Rajasthan opener Yashasvi Jaiswal scored 59 (44b, 8x4, 1x6) to get the chase going. R Ashwin showcased his batting prowess towards the end with a flurry of boundaries remaining unbeaten on 40 (23b, 2x4, 3x6) to guide his team home with two balls to spare. In what has been a forgettable season for Chennai, the MS Dhoni-led team suffered its tenth defeat in 14 games. Earlier, Moeen Ali blazed away in the power play but slowed down considerably thereafter as Chennai struggled to 150 for 6.
Batting first after his skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss, Moeen smashed his way to a 19-ball 50, and was 59 off 24 at the end of the first six power play overs, with Chennai racing away to 75 for the loss of one wicket. In all, Moeen made 93 off 57 balls with 13 fours and three sixes.
However, after being at the receiving end of Moeen’s brutal onslaught during which the England all-rounder made a bowler of Trent Boult’s calibre look like an uncapped player by bludgeoning him for 26 runs in an over, the Rajasthan bowling unit made a fine comeback.
There was a phase in the innings when Chennai failed to find a boundary for 45 balls, before Dhoni (26) roared back to pull Yuzvendra Chahal (2/26) over deep square leg.
As far as Moeen was concerned, he was kept quiet by the Rajasthan bowlers for a longer time. After he hit Chahal’s flighted delivery through cover for a four in the fourth ball of the seventh over, Moeen found his next four three balls into the 17th over, the bowler being Obed McCoy (2/20).
Dhoni smoked Prasidh Krishna for a six over deep midwicket in the beginning of the next over, but the seamer came back strongly in the remaining five balls.
To start with, Chennai was 3 for one after two overs but Devon Conway and Moeen broke loose after that, scoring 12 and 18 runs in the next two overs and get the yellow brigade’s innings up and running.
Moeen was getting the big shots going with consummate ease, even as Conway looked on from the other end. Moeen reached his half century with an upper cut over the third man boundary off Boult.
BRIEF SCORES: Chennai Super Kings 150/6 in 20 overs (M Ali 93) lost to Rajasthan Royals 151/5 in 19.4 overs (Y Jaiswal 59, R Ashwin 40*)