IPL 2023: Chennai Super Kings vs Rajasthan Royals, Match 17 - Talking Points and Who Said What?

Rajasthan Royals emerged victorious in the high-octane thrilling contest, off the final ball by three runs against MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings. Squaring off at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, the Royals knew that it would be quite a challenge to fight MS Dhoni and Co. at their fortress.

Despite this, the Sanju Samson-led side prevailed in an interesting affair as they put their best foot forward in the match. The see-sawing contest saw CSK and RR share moments of control during certain occasions which eventually led to match going down the wire. 

Rajasthan posted 175 runs on the board with opener Jos Buttler notching up a half-century (52 runs) whereas Devdutt Padikkal and Ravichandran Ashwin scored 38 and 30 runs respectively. Shimron Hetmyer came down the order and hammered a swift knock of 30* runs off 18 balls which included two maximums and two fours.

In response, Chennai lost wickets at regular intervals which mounted pressure on the rest of the unit. However, MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja took the game till the very last ball, courtesy of their explosive batting prowess. Despite this, Sandeep Sharma proved his mettle on the final ball with a terrific yorker which ended CSK’s chase, thereby handing his side the crucial two points.

Let's look at the Talking Points from the game-

Sandeep Sharma's death-bowling masterclass

Sandeep Sharma was handed the responsibility to defend the score in the final over. But things did not start well for him, as he gave away two wides to start the over with, and was hit for two sixes back-to-back by MS Dhoni, which brought the game down the wire. But him coming round the wicket turned the tables around as Dhoni and Jadeja were left clueless, and could not go for the big shots as CSK lost the game.

Ravindra Jadeja’s all-round show

MS Dhoni introduced Jadeja at a point when RR were cruising to a humongous total. RR made use of the powerplay and got 57 runs in the first six overs. In came Jadeja, who quickly sent Devdutt Padikkal and rival skipper Sanju Samson back to the dug out in the same over. Adding to this, Jadeja also had an impressive outing with the bat as he scored a quickfire 15-ball 25 which included two maximums and one four that helped the side get closer to the finish line. 

Chahal-Zampa-Ashwin dent CSK’s chase

In the second innings, it was the spin trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Adam Zampa, and Yuzvendra Chahal which helped dent CSK's run chase. Though Zampa proved to be costly, he got the vital scalp of Moeen Ali in his four overs. Additionally, Ashwin and Chahal not only got four wickets between them but also restricted the rival side from scoring big which helped their side get closer to victory.  

Losing captain, MS Dhoni said-

There was not a lot in it for spinners, but in the middle period, there were too many dot balls. If the surface is stopping and turning, then it is fine. But that was not the case here. We were the last batting pair, early in the tournament, you can't go hard, keeping the NRR in mind as there were too many overs to go. We kept it slightly late in the middle overs. We could have taken more singles. And we couldn't go hard immediately. [On his batting] I don't fancy too many things. I just wait for the bowlers to commit a few errors. The bowler was slightly under pressure in the last over. You need to back yourself. My strength is to look to hit straight. We saw the amount of dew, and after the first few overs, it became relatively easy. We should have done better with the bat. Overall, the bowlers did well. [On 200 games as captain] I am not big on milestones. How does it matter if it is 199 or 200. It is a compliment to play 200 games. Thanks to almighty. But as I said nothing special.

Player of the Match, Ravichandran Ashwin said-

I surprise people I guess. That's a role given to me, we lost Sanju. i am far better at judging my strengths, I take a few balls to get going. Every batting innings, I am padded up from the start. It's not an easy thing but it is good. I came off with good Test form. I feel I am able to get good grip and drop the ball at the right lengths. If I was not able to do it in the last two years, I wouldn't be able to do it here. Even if it is a failure, it willl be on my own terms.

Winning captain, Sanju Samson said-

Full credit to the boys in this type of ground with so much dew, it was excellent. Everyone was involved and everyone wanted to win. We want to go back with happy memories from here. We really wanted to go with a win. The ball was stopping a bit. We wanted to get Zampa in as Impact Player. At the end, I wanted to extend the game but it still went to the last over. [On having the game in the bag] Never, you can't feel that way till the time that guy [Dhoni] is in the middle. I do a lot of planning, research and sit down with the data team. A lot of thoughts are going around. Nothing works on Dhoni, though.