It was classic stuff as Dhoni rolled again the years however ultimately unheralded Royals seamer Sandeep Sharma nailed a few excellent block-hole deliveries to earn a three-run victory for his crew.
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Chasing a goal of 176, Dhoni (32 off 17 balls) and Ravindra Jadeja (25 off 15 balls), have been on the right track as 21 was wanted off the final over. CSK’s remaining rating was 172/6 as Dhoni did not finish his two hundredth recreation for CSK in a way he would have preferred in his religious house with 30,000 plus spectators rooting for him.
Punjab seamer Sandeep appeared to lose his nerve as he bowled a few wides after which Dhoni whipped him over sq. leg and mid-wicket for a few sixes.
AS IT HAPPENED
Needing 6 off final two deliveries, the medium pacer bought a large yorker to Jadeja after which an ideal block-hole ball to Dhoni because it fetched a few singles.
However Devon Conway had a scratchy method on cheesy pitch as his 50 off 38 balls did not present the momentum with Ravichandran Ashwin (2/25 in 4 overs) and Yuzvendra Chahal (2/27 in 4 overs) bowling exceptionally properly.
Earlier, Jos Buttler wasn’t precisely devastating in his method however but managed the 18th half-century of his IPL profession as Rajasthan Royals posted a good 175/8 after being put into bat first.
While Royals have been 135/4 after 15 overs, the final 5 overs wasn’t as productive as they’d have anticipated with solely 40 runs being added and 4 wickets misplaced within the course of.
Ravindra Jadeja (2/21 in 4 overs) was as normal menacing on a floor that assisted the spinners at the same time as Buttler hit three big sixes in his 36-ball-52. He had 77-run second wicket stand with Devdutt Padikkal (38 off 26 balls), who after his struggles towards Punjab Kings, was again in his component.
Towards the tip, Shimron Hetmyer (30 off 18 balls) was ever spectacular as a finisher whereas Tushar Deshpande (2/37) gave solely eight runs within the twentieth over.
The CSK bowlers, particularly Jadeja managed to peg again the Royals batters after the brisk begin with the 50 coming within the sixth over.
Royals did battle between overs 8-13 as they misplaced two wickets within the house of three balls with Padikkal and skipper Sanju Samson (0) falling to Jadeja.
The supply that bought Samson, was bowled with excessive arm velocity and it did flip sufficient together with adequate bounce to drive the batter play a flawed line.
After a section by which the Royals batters didn’t rating any boundaries for just a little over six overs, Ashwin (30, 22 balls, 1×4, 2×6) smacked two successive sixes off debutant left-arm pacer Akash Singh.
He fell at the same time as he was seeking to step up the tempo, skying one off Akash within the deep.
After skipper MS Dhoni received the toss and opted to bowl, Deshpande struck an early blow for the house crew, dismissing the harmful Yashasvi Jaiswal (10, 8 balls, 2×4), having him caught by Shivam Dube.
Buttler and Padikkal (38, 26 balls, 5×4) add 77 runs in 41 deliveries earlier than the latter fell to Ravindra Jadeja, caught within the deep by Devon Conway. The partnership laid the muse for the Royals after Jaiswal was dismissed early.
Dhoni was felicitated previous to the match for captaining CSK for a two hundredth time in IPL by former BCCI president N Srinivasan within the presence of his spouse Chitra Srinivasan and former TNCA president Rupa Gurunath.
(With PTI inputs)
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com