Rajasthan Royals kept their IPL playoff hopes alive in dramatic fashion as they stole a four-wicket victory over Chennai Super Kings off the penultimate ball of the match.
Batting first after winning the toss at the Sawai Maningh stadium in Jaipur, Chennai put up 176-4 in their twenty overs. In reply, the hosts looked down and out at one point before they fashioned victory in extraordinary fashion to deny MS Dhoni‘s men.
Here, we look at the key talking points from Rajasthan’s thrilling win.
RAINA’S THIRD FIFTY OF THE SEASON LEADS CSK CHARGE
Despite losing opener Ambati Rayudu early, Suresh Raina and Shane Watson combined beautifully to put the Royals bowlers under pressure in the powerplay. The latter was the primary aggressor as he played some delightful shots all around the park.
The left-hander overtook Virat Kohli to reinstate himself as the top run-scorer in IPL history as he brought up his third half-century off the season. Raina smashed four boundaries and one six to bring up his fifty off 32 balls as Chennai Super Kings raced away to 90 runs in the first 10 overs.
His entertaining innings of 52 (35) was brought to an end by Ish Sodhi but by then Raina had laid the perfect platform for the visitors in a pitch which was slowing down drastically.
And, here comes the FIFTY for @ImRaina. This is his third half-century in #VIVOIPL 2018.#RRvCSK pic.twitter.com/PjmRxMlBTe
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 11, 2018
ISH SODHI HELPS ROYALS PULL THINGS BACK AT THE DEATH
At one point when Raina was going great guns, Chennai looked like they were on their way to a 200-run plus total. However, Royals’ bowlers, especially Ish Sodhi, pulled things back nicely towards the second part of the innings as the surface started to slow down.
The New Zealand leg-spinner followed up his excellent performance in the win over Kings XI Punjab with another impressive showing on Friday. Sodhi removed the well-set Raina after the left-hander miscued a sweep to a googly.
His highly economical figures (1-28) helped the hosts restrict the flow of runs in the death overs as Chennai only managed to score 64 run in the final eight overs despite having plenty of wickets in hand.
.@ish_sodhi gets @ImRaina who was playing so well. Chak de phatte! #RRvCSK #IPL2018
— 100MB (@100MasterBlastr) May 11, 2018
BUTTLER MAKES IT FOUR IN A ROW
A move to the top of the batting wonder has done wonders to Jos Buttler’s confidence with the Englishman going on to strike three explosive half-centuries on the bounce coming into Friday’s clash.
He started with three consecutive boundaries off compatriot David Willey on his way to a fourth straight half-century in the tournament.
The Royals opener struggled against spin in the last game against but made sure to get on top of them on Friday from the get go. He hit Harbhajan Singh for two massive sixes while playing some inventive reverse sweeps against Ravindra Jadeja as he raced away to a 25-ball half-century.
Most consecutive 50+ scores in IPL:
— Umang Pabari (@UPStatsman) May 11, 2018
5 - Virender Sehwag
4 - JOS BUTTLER*
4 - Virat Kohli #RRvCSK
GOWTHAM’S LATE CAMEO GOES IN VAIN AS ROYALS RUN OUT OF GAS
After a middle-order stumble from the Royals, the equation came down to 28 runs required off 12 balls for the hosts. That is when Krishnappa Gowtham repeated his heroics against Mumbai Indians by smashing Willey for two big sixes in the penultimate over.
He was dismissed by the Englishman off the final ball of the 19th over as the total came down to 12 runs off six balls. Buttler took strike for the final over bowled by Bravo but only two runs came off the first three deliveries as pressure grew on the hosts.
Then, Buttler connected from the middle to deposit Bravo over mid-on for a big six before an overthrown allowed him to pick the two winning runs off the penultimate ball.
The Royals opener remained unbeaten on 95 (60) as Royals stole a last-gasp win.
What an innings by Jos the Boss Buttler, K Gowtham is best finisher in this IPL so far
— Yash Maheshwari (@Royalmaheshwari) May 11, 2018
