Shivam Dube's fighting fifty (52 off 33) went in vain as Rajasthan Royals beat Chennai Super Kings by 32 runs in Match No. 37 of IPL 2023 at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, here on Thursday. With this win, Rajasthan went to the top of the table with five wins while CSK, who also have five victories, dropped down to third spot.
Powerplay carnage
Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal attacking fifty (77 off 43) propelled Rajasthan Royals to 202/5 in 20 overs. Apart from Jaiswal, the likes of Dhruv Jurel (34 off 15), Jos Buttler (27 off 21), and Devdutt Padikkal (24 off 12) contributed to the Royals' big score on a batting-friendly pitch.
Slow start by CSK
Chasing a huge total, CSK were off to a sedate start, scoring just 13 runs in the first three overs as both Devon Conway and Ruturaj Gaikwad were too cautious in their approach.
Ruturaj then decided to free his arms and got a few crucial fours and sixes off Jason Holder and Ravichandran Ashwin in the next few overs, but Conway had a torrid time out in the middle as he just couldn't put the ball away to the boundary. The dots piled up, and Conway (8 off 16) eventually ended up getting out by hitting one straight to mid-on in Adam Zampa's over, leaving CSK 42-1 at the end of the powerplay.
Zampa with a double strike
The wicket brought the in-form Ajinkya Rahane to the crease, and along with Gaikwad, he had the responsibility to give some impetus to CSK's innings. However, Rajasthan bowlers, with their disciplined line and lengths, didn't allow CSK batters to bat freely.
With the required run-rate increasing, the pressure was mounting on the chasing team, and Ruturaj tried to take on Zampa, but he mistimed the ball horribly to get caught for 47. After Zampa, it was Ashwin's turn to make an impact, and he got rid of both Rahane (15) and impact substitute Ambati Rayudu (0) in the same over, putting CSK in deep trouble at 73-4 after 10.4 overs.
Dube keeps CSK in the hunt
CSK were crumbling, but Shivam Dube and Moeen Ali kept their hopes alive by hitting some crucial boundaries and sixes. Continuing his brilliant form, Dube was dealing in sixes, and Moeen raced to 23 off just 12 balls before Zampa gave his side a timely breakthrough by removing the England left-hander.
Chennai needed 78 from the final five, and it was again Dube, who kept them in the hunt with his timely boundaries and sixes. On the other hand, Ravindra Jadeja struggled to get going initially, but later he also found some boundaries, but the target was becoming too big for CSK.
With 58 runs required off 18 balls, Sandeep executed his plans well and gave just 12 runs, bringing the equation to 46 off 12. And then Holder bowled an excellent over to concede just 9 runs. Eventually, CSK required 37 off the last over, and they were able to get just four runs off Kuldip Yadav, getting restricted to 170/6 in 20 overs.
Brief scores:
Rajasthan Royals 202/5 in 20 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 77, Dhruv Jurel 34; Tushar Deshpande 2-42) beat Chennai Super Kings 170/6 in 20 overs (Shivam Dube 52, Ruturaj Gaikwad 47; Adam Zampa 3-22) by 32 runs.
