IPL 2019: Match 12, CSK vs RR – Chennai Super Kings Player Ratings

The defending champions, Chennai Super Kings, extended their unbeaten run in the tournament with yet another resounding win. They beat the Rajasthan Royals in their second home game of the season. Coming into the game, CSK obviously had the upper hand considering the recent form and the results of the head-to-head encounters between the two sides in recent times. However, the Men in Yellow were in some trouble pretty early in the game. But their leader MS Dhoni had other plans as he resurrected the game on his terms to get his team back in the hunt.

Having won the toss, the Royals opted to bowl first. Their decision to do so proved absolutely correct as the RR bowlers restricted CSK to 27/3 by the end of 5 overs. Suresh Raina (36) and MS Dhoni (75*) then rebuilt the innings for the hosts. After Raina’s dismissal, it was Dwayne Bravo who played the support role to the anchor Dhoni. Their combined efforts saw CSK finish with 175/5 in their stipulated 20 overs.

In the run chase, RR had a terrible start too. They were reeling at 14/3 before Rahul Tripathi and Steve Smith joined hands at the crease. But it was Ben Stokes who brought the Royals back in the hunt. Stokes’ 46 and Jofra Archer’s quick unbeaten 24 threatened the hosts for a brief while but the ask was a little too much to overhaul. Royals could only manage 167/8 in their 20 overs to concede an 8 run win to the Super Kings.

Here are the CSK Player Ratings for the match:

Ambati Rayudu – 1/10

Ambati Rayudu had a breakthrough season in the IPL last year. This season though has not transpired the way he would have liked it to be. Rayudu suffered another failure in the match. He looked struggling at the crease and battled hard for a solitary run that he scored in the match. Eventually, he saw himself getting dismissed in the second over bowled by Jofra Archer.

Shane Watson – 2/10

Shane Watson had a decent start to the IPL season this year. In the previous game, he had struck good form and the Super Kings hoped for a similar show, if not better, in this game as well. The former Aussie cricketer got off to a start in his run-a-ball 13 but ended up getting dismissed soon after. Yet again, he was not tested with the ball in the match.

Suresh Raina – 7/10

After the early dismissals of the CSK openers, the onus was on Suresh Raina to perform. The veteran batter came good to cash in on the opportunity that beckoned. He took his time to settle in at the crease before trying to accelerate to keep things going as the wickets kept tumbling around him. During his stay at the crease, he scored 36 off 32 deliveries with four boundaries and a six to his name.

Kedar Jadhav – 2/10

Kedar Jadhav had a brisk start to his innings. The hard-hitting batter was promoted at number 4, ahead of someone like MS Dhoni in the lineup. He started off with two boundaries off the first two balls that he faced. He kept the crowds going, and then he ended up getting dismissed on the third ball that he faced. Surprisingly, MS Dhoni did not use Jadhav with the ball in the match when at one stage, he looked like searching for options.

MS Dhoni – 9.5/10

When the time comes, the tougher man prevails. It is something that MS Dhoni proved yet again. His team was in dire straits in the match with the top order collapsing big time. This is something that the critics had always warned the team about. But when this happened, Dhoni was up to the task and played a fine knock to take his team total to a decent one. Dhoni scored an unbeaten 75 off just 46 deliveries with 4 fours and as many number of sixes. He finished off the CSK innings with three sixes in the final over.

Dwayne Bravo – 8/10

Dwayne Bravo had a good all-round game. Bravo bowled the all-important final over in the match. He dismissed the big threat Ben Stokes on the first ball of the 20th over as he tried to defend 12 runs. In the same over, he dismissed Shreyas Gopal too, to finish with 2/32 to his name in four overs. Earlier in the match, he had played a handy cameo of a 16-ball 27 studded with a six and three boundaries to support MS Dhoni’s lone war.

Ravindra Jadeja – 4/10

Ravindra Jadeja did not have the best of outings in the match. He did not get his complete quota of overs to bowl in the match. He just bowled a couple of overs and conceded 23 runs in it. He failed to pick up any wickets. With the bat, he did manage to hit a six during his short unbeaten stay of 3 balls at the crease. He hit a six in the final over of the innings.

Mitchell Santner – 2/10

Mitchell Santner made his IPL debut in this match. He had missed out on the entire season of the IPL last year owing to an injury. This season, he got a game but had a forgetful time in the middle. Santner bowled just two overs and failed to get his lengths right. He was taken away for 26 runs in his short spell.

Deepak Chahar – 8/10

Deepak Chahar bowled a beautiful spell of swing bowling up front in the match. Chahar bowled four overs in the game, and conceded just 19 runs. He bowled a maiden as well and that explained how well he bowled in the match. He dismissed the RR skipper Ajinkya Rahane in the very first over of the match and then accounted for the wicket of Sanju Samson, the in-form batter.

Shardul Thakur – 6/10

Shardul Thakur had a mixed bag of a match. Thakur got the new ball to bowl with in this game. He was skilful enough to dismiss the big fish Jos Buttler in the third over of the match. While he managed to take the big wicket, he did concede a lot of runs in his bowling spell. He conceded 42 runs in his spell. Much to his relief, he got his second wicket in the end overs when he dismissed K Gowtham.

Imran Tahir – 8.5/10

The wicket at the Chennai track proved to be a spinner’s paradise in the season opener. Things changed drastically in this game though. For CSK, it was only Imran Tahir who bowled well. Tahir conceded only 23 runs as he also picked up two wickets in the middle overs. His spell was crucial in the context of the game as he choked the run chase big time. Tahir finished with 2/23 in his four overs.

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