CHENNAI SO-POOR KINGS
Out-of-form CSK slumps to its seventh defeat this season against Rajasthan
ABU DHABI: Chennai Super Kings (CSK) suffered its seventh defeat of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 after it went down to Rajasthan Royals (RR) by seven wickets at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium here on Monday.
Following the defeat, bottom-placed CSK remains on six points from 10 games and is unlikely to make it to the knockout stage for the first time in its history. Rajasthan, which chased a modest 126 with 15 balls to spare, earned its fourth win in 10 matches, a result that lifted it to the fifth spot in the eight-team standings. Englishman Jos Buttler (70 not out off 48 balls) was the star of the show for Royals, scoring a match-winning half-century after coming into bat in a testing situation. Buttler, who smashed seven fours and two maximums during his 48-ball innings, was well supported by captain Steve Smith (26 not out off 34).
The Australian was more than happy to give the bulk of the strike to Buttler as the duo pulled RR out of trouble and got it across the finish line. Rajasthan initially lost its top-order, comprising Ben Stokes, Robin Uthappa and Sanju Samson, cheaply for a combined 23 runs.
Earlier, RR produced a fine bowling effort to restrict Super Kings to 125 for five in its stipulated overs. Opting to bat, CSK never got going and lacked the fire power to put up a decent score, after being reduced to 56 for four in 10 overs. Ravindra Jadeja top-scored for Super Kings with a 30-ball unbeaten 35 while skipper MS Dhoni made a run-a-ball 28. The leftright combination added 51 runs for the fifth wicket. Jofra Archer (1/20) was terrific with the new ball, but would be disappointed with his outing on the field. Besides Archer, the spin duo of Shreyas Gopal (1/14) and Rahul Tewatia (1/18) were economical in the middle overs, while Kartik Tyagi (1/35) too was impressive.
Dhoni’s decision to bat first backfired as RR picked up wickets at regular intervals. CSK lost the in-form Faf du Plessis (10) in the third over. The South African was caught by Buttler off Archer and then an over later, Shane Watson was sent back by Kartik.
Opening the batting again, Sam Curran made 22 off 25 before being dismissed by Gopal. After that, a lot depended on Ambati Rayudu but he too disappointed, perishing in the 10th over off Tewatia’s bowling as Chennai slumped to 56 for four. Dhoni and Jadeja tried their best to resurrect the innings and then up the ante, but it proved to be too little too late. The former was run out in search of a double in the 18th over.
Brief scores: Chennai Super Kings 125 for 5 in 20 overs (R Jadeja 35*) lost to Rajasthan Royals 126 for 3 in 17.3 overs (J Buttler 70*, D Chahar 2/18).