Guwahati: Nitish Rana showcased his big-hitting prowess with a scintillating 36-ball-81 but Chennai Super Kings bowlers made a spectacular comeback during the back-end to restrict Rajasthan Royals to a manageable 182 for 9 in an IPL match in Guwahati Sunday.
Promoted to number 3, left-handed Nitish dominated the CSK bowlers smashing 10 boundaries and 5 sixes, after Rajasthan Royals were asked to bat first by CSK.
Skipper Riyan Parag (37), playing in front of his home crowd, hit couple of fours and as many sixes, but his innings lacked fluency as Royals managed only 37 runs in the last five overs. But what would encourage RR is the fact that since 2019, CSK has never chased anything above 180.
Royals’ progress was slowed down by Afghanistan’s Noor Ahmad (2/28), who bowled tightly in the middle overs, and Sri Lankan slinger Matheesha Pathirana (2/28) proved to be effective at the death.
Khaleel Ahmed (2/38) also picked up two wickets.
Royals suffered an early setback when opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, after hitting a boundary on the first ball, was dismissed by Khaleel but it was Nitish’s show from thereon, as he added 82 runs off 42 balls with Sanju Samson (20) to lay a solid foundation for Rajasthan.
Nitish read the length of the ball perfectly, playing exquisite strokes to provide early momentum. He flicked, pulled, and even ramped the pacers for sixes, while using the slog sweep behind square to get two sixes off Ravichandran Ashwin.
The southpaw reached his fifty in just 21 balls as RR raced to 79/1 in the powerplay, their third-highest total in IPL history.
CSK’s bowlers, including Englishman Jamie Overton, who replaced Sam Curran, were ineffective early on. Overton conceded 30 runs in his first two overs, while Khaleel’s final over before the powerplay went for 15 runs, including a six from Nitish. Ashwin also struggled, conceding 19 runs in his first over.
Noor broke the 82-run stand with Samson holing out to Rachin Ravindra at long-off.
At 99/2 in the 10th over, Nitish continued his assault, flicking Matheesha Pathirana for a six, while also slog sweeping and reverse slog sweeping Ashwin for a six and a four, respectively.
However, Ashwin had the last laugh, as he deliberately bowled a wide delivery out of Nitish’s hitting arc and Mahendra Singh Dhoni did the needful behind the stumps.
Noor then claimed the wicket of Jurel with a wrong ‘un, while Ravindra Jadeja dismissed Wanindu Hasaranga (4) as CSK made a comeback, reducing RR to 140/5 in the 15th over.
In the 17th over, Riyan Parag (37) launched Noor for a four and a six before being cleaned up by Pathirana. Shimron Hetmyer (19) hit a four and a six as as RR managed to cross the 175-mark, a total CSK failed to chase in each of their last eight games when the target crossed that mark.
PTI
