IPL 2018: Shane Watson torments his former employers and other taking points as Chennai Super Kings hand Rajasthan a 'royal' thrashing

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  • Watson came to the party with an explosive ton. Image - IPL/Twitter.

    Chennai Super Kings began life at their new ‘home’ in Pune with a comprehensive thrashing of the Rajasthan Royals.

    MS Dhoni’s men moved to the top of the IPL table with a 64-run win over the visitors as they garnered their third victory in four games.

    After Rajasthan won the toss and elected to field first, Chennai put on an impressive show with the bat to post 204-5 in their 20 overs. In reply, the Royals were bowled out for 140.

    Here, we look at the key talking points from Chennai’s win.

    TRIPATHI’S EXPENSIVE DROPS

    Shane Watson holds a special place in the hearts of the Rajasthan Royals fans for his man-of-the-tournament performance in the franchise’s fairytale triumph in the inaugural IPL edition in 2008.

    Now with the Chennai Super Kings, the Australian all-rounder was given a mighty helping hand from his former employers at the start of his innings.

    First, Stuart Binny overstepped the mark to allow Watson a free-hit to settle down the nerves, one which the Aussie grabbed with both hands as he hit the bowler straight over his head for a boundary.

    Then, Rahul Triphathi dropped a sitter at first slip after Binny had found Watson’s outside edge. Tripathi was on the radar again in the next over as he dropped Watson once again, this time at point. However, it was a much tougher chance than the previous one with Tripathi just about managing to get one hand on the ball.

    WATSON TORMENTS ROYALS

    Those two reprieves early on by Tripathi seemed to spur on Watson and he made his former employers pay dearly on a magnificent batting track. The 36-year-old has had a quite start to his Super Kings career but Friday’s knock will go a long way in reminding the IPL of the Aussie’s ability.

    The powerful Aussie made full use of his broad shoulders as he continued to muscle the ball over the boundary ropes with remarkable ease.

    He was equally effective against both seamers and spinners alike as he brought up his first fifty for the Super Kings in just 28 balls with a huge six off K Gowtham. It was Watson’s 15th half-century in IPL history.

    The Aussie’s unending assault on the Royals’ bowlers meant that Chennai were always cruising above 10 runs an over during his long stay.

    SHREYAS GOPAL SHINES AMONGST RAJASTHAN’S RUBBLES

    While Chennai Super Kings did manage to score the 200-run mark, it could have been a whole lot worse for the Royals if not for an inspired spell by Shreyas Gopal.

    The young left-spinner seemed to be oblivious to the thrashing being handed out to his fellow bowlers as he turned in an economical spell while picking up a handful of wickets.

    Gopal captured the wickets of Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni and Sam Billings while conceding only 20 runs in his four overs.

    His economy-rate of five was in stark contrast to the rest of his team-mates who all went over 9.7 runs per over at least. However, rather than being a performance to savour, Gopal’s sublime display only turned out to serve as a reminder of how woeful Rajasthan’s bowlers had been on the day.

    CHAHAR EXTINGUISHES ROYALS’ HOPES QUICKLY

    If it was a former player who did the damage with the bat against the Royals on Friday, it was a Rajasthan-based player who caused destruction with the ball.

    Deepak Chahar has been the leader of Rajasthan’s pace attack in the Ranji Trophy but wasn’t picked by the franchise in the IPL auction. In the end, Royals’ loss turned out to be Chennai’s gain as Chahar’s spell at the start of Rajasthan’s chase spelled the end for the visitors’ hopes.

    While he had Heinrich Klaasen dropped by Watson off the very first ball, Chahar made full use of the swinging ball under lights as he dismissed the dangerous Sanju Samson and skipper Ajinkya Rahane within the powerplay itself.

    Bowling his four overs on the trot, the 25-year-old pacer finished with figures of 2-30 and by the time he was done, the Royals had been left with a humongous mountain to climb.

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