Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni yet again took a successful review as Rajasthan Royals lost the wicket of skipper Ajinkya Rahane pretty early on in the innings as MS Dhoni won the toss and put the hosts in. It was Jos Buttler and Ajinkya Rahane who came out in the middle to begin proceedings. Jos Buttler struck a four and a six of Deepak Chahar in the very first over to get thing underway.
Skipper Ajinkya Rahane also looked in great touch and started off with some exceptional boundaries. He struck 14 of 11 deliveries before Deepak Chahar struck in plumb in front to sent him back to the pavilion. The on-field umpire ruled it not out and Chahar had to plead with MS Dhoni to go for the review. In the end, it proved to be a great call from Deepak Chahar as the replays showed the ball would have crashed onto the leg stump.
MS Dhoni was pretty reluctant to take the call and just went for the DRS at the last possible second. In the end, it proved to be a good call. After the loss of Rahane’s wicket, RR also lost wickets in a cluster which put them to the backfoot. Ravindra Jadeja bowled brilliantly in the middle overs and got his 100th IPL wicket with the wicket of Steve Smith.
The Chennai Super Kings bowlers were in the right areas and never really allowed Rajasthan to push on the accelerator. Benn Stokes took 26 balls for his knock of 28 which never really gave Rajasthan the much-needed momentum. The final flourish in the innings was provided by leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal. He struck some good shots en route to his unbeaten 19 of just 7 deliveries.
Rajasthan Royals eventually finished their allotted 20 overs on 151 which will surely give them some hope in the 2nd innings. Ravindra Jadeja, Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur bagged a couple of wickets each. Chennai Super Kings will definitely back themselves to chase the target down with overs to spare.
— Arya Chakraborty (@AryaMady) April 11, 2019