IPL 2018: Rajasthan Royals vs Chennai Super Kings – Match Report
Dec 22, 2018 at 4:43 PM
Ever Since Rajasthan Royals (RR) asked Jos Buttler to open an innings, he performed like a man on the mission. His incredible hitting in the powerplay coupled with the great patience in the middle-overs and the astonishing work in the final over of the game sealed a thrilling victory for Royals over second-ranked Chennai Super Kings in Jaipur.
CSK innings: Suresh Raina’s heroics kept CSK on top of the game
Initially, it was Mahendra Singh Dhoni. who won the toss and asked the home side to roll their arms first. Though Ambati Rayudu started well but could not continue with the flow as Jofra Archer’s Pacy delivery got better off him.
However, Suresh Raina started his innings in quite a style while Shane Watson played pretty unlike him.
The stylish southpaw Raina found fence often than not to keep the run-rate on higher side while Watson got into his own in the middle overs.
However, it was once again Archer who sent Watson back to the hut but Raina carried on his form to bring his third IPL fifty of this edition.
Just after reaching the fifty, Ish Sodhi found top edge of Raina (52) while Dhoni and Sam Billings failed to bolster the scoreboard at a quick rate.
However, pitch played its part to bring Rajasthan bowlers back into the game. Dhoni who stayed till the end managed to score 33* off 22 balls to hand a massive tally of 176 runs on the board.
Rajasthan Royals – Jos Buttler’s incredible work saw RR chase down
In reply to the chase, Rajasthan got a flashy start with Buttler finding fence in the first three balls of the game. He continued his rich vein of form but on the other end, the surprise pick as an opener, Ben Stokes once again proved to be a flop story with the bat while Ajinkya Rahane too continued his bad form.
However, Sanju Samson and Buttler stood tall in the chase to bring back the home side into the game. But the unfortunate run-out of Samson brought back CSK into the game.
The newbie, Prashant Chopra joined Buttler and looked pretty much comfortable in his shoes but was unlucky to find Bravo at short-midwicket.
Stuart Binny played a nice cameo role of 22-run knock while Krishnappa Gowtham gave the crucial 13-run knock off just four balls in the end. When it required eight runs off the three balls, Buttler smashed a fantastic six to the mid-wicket thus drawing curtains on CSK hopes.
All in all, it was a one-time knock from Buttler who smashed a blistering unbeaten 95* runs off 60 balls.
Buttler scored 11 boundaries and two maximums to help the cause.
Also, Read: IPL 2018: 43rd Match, RR vs CSK – Royals Players Rating
Brief Scores:
Chennai Super Kings – 176/4; Suresh Raina 52, Watson 39; Archer 2/42
Rajasthan Royals – 177/6 Jos Buttler 95*, Binny 22; Thakur 1/22