IPL 2019: Match 25 – RR vs CSK – Who Said What

The match between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur turned out to be an absolute thriller. The game went right down to the wire and it was the visiting team, which held its nerve and won by three wickets. The victory was MS Dhoni’s 100th in the Indian Premier League (IPL) as CSK won their sixth match out of seven games.

Royals strain a wee bit

After losing the toss and being put in to bat first, the Royals started in a positive manner as Ajinkya Rahane and Jos Buttler scored 14 and 23 runs. But both went back to the hut inside the first four overs. Sanju Samson perished in the quest of taking the attack to Mitchell Santner. Steve Smith and Rahul Tripathi couldn’t contribute much and all of a sudden, RR were reduced to 78 for five in 11 overs.

The lower order didn’t score big, but each one of them churned out some useful knocks and guided the Royals to a decent score. Ben Stokes scored 28 runs, though he took 26 balls to get those runs. Even the likes of Riyan Parag, Jofra Archer and Shreyas Gopal notched 16, 13 and 19 respectively. Shardul Thakur was entrusted to bowl the last over and the Royals batsmen laid into the right-arm speedster.

Chennai got home in a thriller

The run-chase didn’t start on a happy note for the visiting team after losing four wickets with not much on the board. The required rate also escalated significantly. All off Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis and Suresh Raina couldn’t make an impact and got out for single digit scores. The Royals’ fielders also were excellent as Jofra Archer’s direct hit got rid of Raina followed by an incredible catch from Jofra Archer.

Thereafter, MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav took charge and put on 95 runs for the fifth wicket in 71 balls. Rayudu got out to Stokes after scoring 57 from 47 with two fours and three sixes. Dhoni kept his calm and took the match into the last over. The 37-year-old ended up 58 runs from 43 deliveries with two fours and three sixes. Mitchell Santner finished off the contest with a six off the last ball off Stokes.

Ajinkya Rahane, the RR captain, said

I don’t think so (when asked if he’d have done anything differently). Credit to our bowlers, on that wicket I thought 150 was low. We should have batted better, on that wicket 170 would have been very good. We feel disappointed. It was about having the belief. We knew that if we take wickets in the powerplay, we’ll be in the game. Fielding will be crucial, we did that pretty well. Lot to improve in the last 5-6 games. I’m sure guys will take it on and learn from these mistakes. Sanju was back and that was a plus point. Jaydev was bowling really well. Parag did really well in his first game. We got to find the balance right depending on the conditions. I still feel you need to win crunch situations in T20 format. I’m really enjoying my role – lot to learn as well. This is a challenge for me. It’s about taking step by step. As a captain, it’s a different challenge altogether, but I’m enjoying it.

MS Dhoni, the CSK captain and Player of the Match, said

It was a very good game. Need to give credit to Rajasthan. They were slightly few runs short on what would’ve been a good score. But they put pressure on our batsmen and they were able to build pressure right to the end. Once you win games like this, you learn a lot out of it. It’s important to enjoy the win but also learn from the mistakes. It’s about a few hits.

Have to see the ground here. It’s a very big ground and the outfield is fast. At the end of the day, individuals do commit mistakes. But the team has to take the blame if you’ve lost. Doesn’t matter if it was Shardul’s over or someone else’s over. Important to see if the batsmen batted well or whether the execution failed. We’ve got very good support here, thanks to them. Not to forget, one of my biggest innings came here. All games are big games.

Ambati Rayudu said

It was a tough going. The wickets have been slow. We both are really experienced. You dream for such situations where you can take your team out of trouble. There is no pressure. I have been batting well. When it is your day, you should help your team . The first ball for a six from Jaddu was unbelievable. Definitely, he is coming into his groove. Obviously, he is very talented. He has been bowling well. Everyone knows about his fielding and today his batting as well. I have been scoring 20s on those difficult wicket. It is important on your day to pull your team through.

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