It was a perfect match to balance Sunday’s euphoria. It did not have any pace in either innings as chasing a sub-par total of 125, RR won with 15 balls and 7 wickets to spare. For a must win game for both the teams tottering at the bottom of points table, it lacked the intensity it ought to have had.

Loss of early wickets

MS Dhoni, playing his 200th IPL game, won the toss and decided to bat first. He reckoned the pitch would slow down in the second half. Archer began the proceedings with much vigour, as he beat his compatriot Curran on many occasions with his pace, bounce and swing. Soon he was rewarded with the wicket of Faf who mistimed his cut off short ball for Buttler to grab at cover, stretching to his left. Watson began in style with two consecutive fours of Tyagi, but the third one was flicked straight to Tewatia at short mid wicket. Curran and Rayudu scored 15 off the 5th over bowled by Stokes and eventually took CSK to 43 in the powerplay.

Slow run rate after powerplay

However CSK’s innings lost steam thereafter. A lot of dot balls were followed by two quick wickets of Curran and Rayudu, both succumbing to spinners. Dhoni and Jadeja built a 51-run partnership but it was almost run-a-ball with 0 six, hence it lacked any impact. Dhoni(28) was run out before he could play any big shots, trying to take on Archer’s arm after his misfield. Jadeja’s 30-ball 35 took CSK’s total to 125/5 in the stipulated 20 overs. Spinners Shreyas Gopal and Rahul Tewatia were the pick of the bowlers conceding 14 and 18 respectively while taking a wicket each. Jofra had figures of 1/20 in his 4.

Trouble at top

Chasing the modest target, Stokes started with 3 fours and looked in a hurry to finish the game. But Chennai bowlers made a comeback and took three wickets inside powerplay to create pressure on RR. First Stokes chopped on an incoming delivery from Chahar. Then Uthappa was caught by Dhoni off Hazlewood and lastly Samson was strangled down the leg side for a duck by Chahar. Dhoni did well to latch on to a low catch tumbling to his left. In search few more wickets, Dhoni bowled out both Chahar and Hazlewood before 10th over.

Buttler-Smith stand

However the duo of Steve Smith and Jos Buttler soaked in the pressure and steadily built on a chance-less strong partnership. After blocking a few deliveries, Buttler broke the shackles with Thakur’s over scoring a boundary and six off him. He brought his half century off 37 balls and celebrated it with three consecutive boundaries off Chawla. The unbroken 98-run stand between Smith(26) and Buttler(70) took Rajasthan home safely with 15 balls to spare. The two points from the match takes Rajasthan Royals to the 5th place on the points table.