IPL 2021: CSK spinners tear apart RR batting to register massive 45-run win
The 14th edition of the Indian Premier League is being played in India. Chennai Super Kings is a former two-time IPL champion, continued to be led by MS Dhoni. Rajasthan Royals has not won a title since its 2008 win, while Sanju Samson is leading this season.
FollowIt was a mind-blowing performance by the former champion Chennai Super Kings on all fronts, especially with its bowling. It managed to tame fellow former champion Rajasthan Royals by 45 runs in Match 12 of the 2021 Indian Premier League at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Monday, thanks to its middle-order and the spinners.
Winning the toss, RR skipper Sanju Samson elected to bat first, as both sides moved in with an unchanged XI. CSK was off to a troubled start, losing a couple of wickets within the powerplay itself (Ruturaj Gaikwad- 10 and du Plessis- 33), as the score read 46/2 after six overs.
All-rounder Moeen Ali was looking good. Along with Suresh Raina, he contributed to a 33-run stand for the third wicket before falling for 26 to spinner Rahul Tewatia in the tenth over.
The next stand was a better one between Raina and Ambati Rayudu that turned out to be 45 runs. Nonetheless, in the 14th over, both Raina and Rayudu departed off pacer Chetan Sakariya for 18 and 27, respectively.
As in came CSK skipper MS Dhoni to produce some magic along with all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, he could barely fire, falling for 18 to Sakariya in the 18th over, while the score read 147/6. Jadeja could not last long either, as after scoring 20 runs, he too fell for just eight to pacer Chris Morris in the 19th over.
As all-rounder Dwayne Bravo came into the middle along with fellow all-rounder Sam Curran, there was no respite. Just ten runs later, at 174, Curran was run out for 13 in the final over. The over saw some drama, including Shardul Thakur's miscommunicated run out for a mere single, while Bravo survived one himself. Nevertheless, the latter hit a six off the final ball, off pacer Mustafizur Raham, as CSkposted on a fair total of 188/9.
For RR, six bowlers were utilised. While Sakariya had the most success, Tewatia was the most economical of all.
FULL SCORECARD: IPL 2021, Match 12- Chennai Super Kings vs Rajasthan Royals (CSK vs RR)
As RR came out to chase, it was off to a steady start, while it lost a couple of batsmen during the powerplay at 45 (Manan Vohra- 14 and Samson- 1). It was then followed by a decent 41-run stand between fellow wicketkeeper-opening batsman Jos Buttler and Shivam Dube.
Just a run short of his 12th IPL half-century, Buttler was knocked over by spinner Jadeja in the 12th over. Meanwhile, his dismissal opened the floodgates for RR, as none of the other batsmen built a strong partnership.
RR lost its next four wickets in just eight runs, with Jadeja and Moeen taking turns to get rid of them. The pair of Tewatia and Jaydev Unadkat then contributed to a 42-run stand for the eighth wicket. The former eventually departed for a 15-ball 20 in the 19th over to Bravo, at 137, followed by the latter in the final over for 24 to pacer Shardul Thakur. Consequently, CSK got the job done by 45 runs.
As for CSK, six bowlers did the job. Moeen was the man of the moment for attaining the most success, besides being the most economical of all.
Brief scores: CSK 188/9 (Du Plessis-33; Sakariya- 3/36) defats RR 143/9 (Buttler- 49; Moeen- 3/7) by 45 runs.
