Twitter Reactions: Rajasthan Royals lose the script; left gasping for breath against Chennai Super Kings

A cruising Royals lost the plot against Moeen Ali, who bagged a three-for, giving only 7 runs in a three-over spell.

By Pratyay Tiwari

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4 Min Read

Moeen Ali
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Moeen Ali. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)

Chennai Super Kings registered their second win on the trot, restricting Rajasthan Royals 45 runs short, by turning things around rather dramatically after setting up 189 for the opponents to win. A cruising Royals lost the plot against Moeen Ali, who bagged a three-for, giving only 7 runs in a three-over spell.

Winning the toss, and pocketing the coin, Sanju Samson did what any winner of the toss at Wankhede does: bowl first. Amid growing voices over his form, Ruturaj Gaikwad got himself on the lucky side as he closely escaped a golden duck. Trying to reach out a ball that was going away from him, he convincingly edged it, although, the ball went a little too wide for the fielder in the slips to get hold of it as it ran down to the boundary.

Meanwhile, from the other end, Faf du Plessis got off the mark with a spectacular six off Chetan Sarkariya over the long-on fence. Mutafizur Rahman struck in his first over, getting Gaikwad caught at mid-off for sedate 13-ball 10, but the Super Kings recovered in a jiffy with Plessis swatting Unadkat over short fine for consecutive fours followed by crisp six over long-off in a 19-run over. Looking dangerous, he played one shot too many as Riyan Parag grabbed a chance in deep off Chris Morris to send him back for a 17-ball 33.

Aggressive intent keeps CSK on track

It seemed that CSK had a plan to not let the momentum down despite the fall of wickets, as Moeen Ali (26 off 20) smashed a couple of sixes and four across two overs, before holing out to deep-midwicket off Parag.

Immediately after his exit, Ambati Rayudu and Suresh Raina hit a six each in Parag’s opening over and the former made a swifter move on, belting Tewatia over midwicket and down the ground for two sixes in the next.

Sakariya, though, changed the tide in a double-wicket over, as Rayudu (27 off 17) found the safe hands of Parag in the deep, while Raina (18 off 15) followed suit, holing out to mid-off only three balls later.

188/9 courtesy Bravo’s late dash 

Not quite being able to get a move on immediately, CSK struggled to find boundaries as MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja ran hard in the middle. Having got his eyes in, the CSK skipper got a couple of fours in a space of four balls, although Sakariya got him caught at extra cover for a 17-ball 18 to claim his third scalp of the night.

The Royals could not hold the things at the death, as Sam Curran cracked a six on the second ball he faced, while Dwayne Bravo picked consecutive boundaries after Ravindra Jadeja edged Morris in the 15-run penultimate over. The final over produced two run-outs, though Bravo kept stealing doubles before launching the final delivery over long-on for a maximum to take CSK close to 190.

Swift start, swifter collapse for Rajasthan

Deepak Chahar leaked 11 runs in the opening over with Jos Buttler starting the proceedings with a glorious punch down the ground for a boundary. To make matters worse, CSK gave him a reprieve in the second over, albeit courtesy of what was a difficult chance for Shardul Thakur to grab.

Manan Vohra seemed in a good nick as he plonked Sam Curran for a six over midwicket, but perished on the next ball, miscuing a pull straight to Jadeja to give the first breakthrough to the opponents. Buttler continued to maintain the pace with a four and six off Chahar in the next over, but CSK had their moment when Sanju Samson (1 off 5) deposited Curran to mid-on, where Bravo hardly had to move to pocket the ball.

The Royals rebuilt with a 42-run stand between Buttler and Shivam Dube, and the duo had just started to accelerate, taking 21 runs in overs 9-10 combined, although Jadeja cleaned up Buttler one short of his half-century to inflict a horrific collapse as Rajasthan went from 87/2 to 97/7 three overs later.

Jadeja, Moeen Ali spin a web

Only four balls after Buttler’s dismissal, Jadeja pinned Dube lbw, while Moeen Ali trapped Miller in the next as he failed to connect a sweep. Ali returned to get both Parag and Morris caught at deep midwicket off Jadeja to suck even the last drop of life from Rajasthan’s batting lineup.

In a 42-run stand for the 8th wicket, both Unadkat and Tewatia struck a few lusty blows, which included two consecutive sixes from the latter off Bravo in the penultimate over but he picked Gaikwad to end his 15-ball 20 cameo. Jadeja signaled four in the last over, as he caught Unadkat (24 off 17) in the last over off Thakur as the Royals conceded the game.

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