Match Details
But the number three batter Moeen Ali had other ideas. On a sticky looking surface he came out all guns blazing. He even struck a six and five consecutive boundaries off Trent Boult to end the powerplay at 75/1.
Devon Conway was a spectator of this onslaught from Moeen. The southpaw from England completed his swashbuckling fifty in just 19 deliveries. Conway (16 off 14), who was playing a supporting role for his partner was trapped in front of the stumps by a quicker and a fuller delivery from Ravichandran Ashwin. The off-spinner broke the 83-run stand between the two batters and the scoring rate gradually slowed down.
Narayan Jagadeesan (1 off 4) and Ambati Rayudu (3 off 6) failed to make impressions with the bat, leaving CSK on a spot of bother at 95/4.
MS Dhoni and Moeen Ali did add 51 for the fifth wicket but this wasn’t a fluent partnership. Dhoni did smoke a huge six during his innings but struggled to get going. He was taken care of by a loopy wide delivery from Yuzvendra Chahal. Dhoni scored 26 off 28 deliveries.
Moeen Ali slowed down after the powerplay as the pitch showed its colours. And he eventually holed out to long-off in the last over. He scored 93 off 57 balls, including 13 boundaries and three monstrous six.
Mitchell Santner (1* off 2) and Simarjeet Singh (3* off 3) at the end chipped in with a few scores as CSK finished on 150/6 in their allotted 20 overs.
Rajasthan Royals used five bowlers and except Prasidh Krishna everyone chipped in with wickets. Obed McCoy (2/20) and Yuzvendra Chahal (2/26) were the pick of them. Ravichandran Ashwin (1/28) was crucial in drowning the run rate of the batting side. Trent Boult was very expensive, thanks to Moeen Ali who slammed 26 off his third over, finished his spell with a wicket.
Arya- The run-chase could have been a tricky one for the Rajasthan Royals had they lost early wickets. Yashashvi Jaiswal started off freely smashing boundaries at will and got RR off to a flying start in the opening over. Jos Buttler who was out of touch in the last few matches couldn’t quite get going as Simarjeet Sing nicked him off with a good away swinger a tad outside off. It was a great start as far as CSK was concerned but Jaiswal at the other end, looked in sublime touch and kept the scoreboard ticking with his exceptional strokeplay.
Sanju Samson struck some delightful strokes as he does on most occasions but yet again couldn’t carry on and finish off the job for his team. A 51 runs partnership ended when Mitchell Santner took a terrific return catch to send Samson back. Again an innings which promised but fizzled out way too early. That could have been a tricky situation had RR lost a few more wickets. Prasanth Solanki bagged his maiden IPL wicket when he dismissed Jaiswal with a dragged down delivery. He went for the pull only to be holed out at deep backward square leg.
Devdutt Padikkal’s dodgy knock of 3 of 9 deliveries came to an end when he castled by Moeen Ali. He put a lot of pressure on the other batters due to his lack of intent in the middle. It was Ravichandran Ashwin who was sent up the order to settle the nerves in the middle. Mr Utility didn’t disappoint as he played a stunning knock which took his side over the finishing line. Ashwin went onto smoke three big sixes during his incredible knock of 40 of 23 deliveries which took his side over the finishing line. He played some exceptional shots and the celebration after the win showed what it meant for Ashwin to help his team finish on the 2nd spot in the points table.