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CSK proves its dominance
April 21, 2018
Things turned topsy-turvy for Rajasthan Royals skipper Ajinkya Rahane who decided to bowl first on a pitch offering good carry and aiding some spin. Chennai Super Kings after being forced to move out of Chennai after the Cauvery issue made Pune their home for this season. With short boundaries at Maharashtra Cricket Association stadium it was absolute delight watching power hitters.
Ambati Rayudu and Shane Watson came to open the batting for Chennai, but it was Watson the aggressor who took on Rajasthan Royal bowlers smashing them all around right from the start. The 36-year-old Australian all-rounder lead from the front scoring 106 off 57 balls studded with as many as 9 fours and 6 sixes.
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It all started when Watson was dropped on 8 at slips by Rahul Tripathi in the very first over off the bowling of Stuart Binny which proved too costly for Royals. With Watson hitting regular boundaries all Rayudu did was provide support at the other end before being caught by Jos Buttler in the fifth over; the stand fetched 50 runs. With Rayudu’s dismissal the scoring rate did not come down as Suresh Raina joined the party soon scoring 46 from just 29. Lower down the order it was Dwayne Bravo cameo with 24 in 16 balls along with the 100 of Shane Watson which propelled CSK to 204/5 in 20 overs.
The chase of Royals started and Heinrich Klaasen being dropped at 0 by Watson in the fifth ball which was followed by a six from Rahane off Deepak Chahar. Luckily for CSK the dropped chance did not prove costly as Shardul Thakur clean bowled Klaasen in the very next over. Rajasthan Royals received another setback when Sanju Samson was dismissed in the third over after managing just 2 runs. Rahane too soon followed leaving the team tottering at 32/3 inside five overs.
Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler then joined adding 45 runs to repair the damage. But CSK performance with the ball and regular losing of wickets simply could not put RR in the driver’s seat and were bundled out for 140 in 18.3 overs, helping CSK win the game by a comfortable 64 runs.
