Mumbai: Spinners Moeen Ali (3/3) and Ravindra Jadeja (2/28) came to the party at the right time as Chennai Super Kings (CSK) scripted a facile 45–run victory of Rajasthan Royals (RR) in their IPL encounter at the Wankhede stadium here Monday. Royals needed 189 runs to win the game after CSK had posted 188 for nine in their 20 overs and they finished on 143 for nine.
From a comfortable 87 for two they slipped to 95 for seven from the 12th to the 15th over and the match was over for the Royals. The moment top-scorer Jos Buttler (49) was bowled by Jadeja, floodgates opened for CSK and they struck one blow after the other to have the Royals tottering. Big guns Sanju Samson (1), David Miller (2) and Chris Morris failed to fire (0) and with their dismissal, the match was as good as over for the Royals.
Earlier CSK could only manage to post a par score of against Rajasthan Royals. Some tight bowling by both the spinners and pacers enabled Sanju Samson’s team to maintain a stranglehold on MS Dhoni’s brigade. However, even then CSK managed to carve out a facile win.
A number of CSK batsmen had starts but failed to convert those into substantial scores. So from a gettable score of 200-plus – which looked possible when Ambati Rayudu (27) and Suresh Raina (18) were batting – CSK could only manage 188 for nine. Faf du Plessis (33), Ali (26) and Dhoni (18) flattered only to deceive.
Left-arm pacer Chetan Sakariya (3/36) again did the star turn for Royals with the ball. So even though his illustrious counterpart Jaydev Unadkat went for 40 runs in his four overs, it did not cause much of a problem to the Royals. Chris Morris (2/33), Mustafizur Rahman (1/37) and Rahul Tewatia (1/21) also picked up wickets for the Royals.
Brief scores: CSK 188 for 9 (Faf Du Plessis 33, Chetan Sakariya 3/36, Chris Morris 2/33) beat Rajasthan Royals 143 for 9 (Jos Buttler 49, Moeen Ali 3/3, Ravindra Jadeja 2/28, Sam Curran 2/24) by 45 runs.
