During the 43rd match of the 11th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) between Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at Jaipur, Rajasthan Royals beat Chennai Super Kings by 4 wickets in a nail-biting contest.
After MS Dhoni won the toss and chose to bat, Chennai Super Kings scored 176-4 in their allotted quota of 20 overs. Suresh Raina, who came in to bat at No. 3, top-scored for his team as he scored his 34th IPL half-century.
In the second innings, Jos Buttler ran through with the chase in the powerplay. Despite wickets falling at the other end, Buttler was focused enough to score runs and score them at a pace which kept his team alive in the match. A thrilling penultimate over followed by an interest-generating final over saw the Royals scoring 177-6 in 19.5 overs.
Now, we will look at the hits and flops players in this match.
Hits
Suresh Raina (CSK) – Coming in to bat at No. 3 in the third over, Suresh Raina looked in the affirmative from the word go. He played his shots and did not let the early wicket have any effect on the team. Raina scored his 34th IPL half-century, 52 (35), with the help of six fours and a six.
Jos Buttler (RR) – A change in the batting order for Jos Buttler has also brought a change in the fortunes of Rajasthan Royals. Chasing 177 runs to win, it was important for a top-order batsman to play throughout the innings. Opening the batting with Ben Stokes, Buttler was that top-order batsman for his team. In which was his fourth consecutive half-century, Buttler scored 95* (60) with the help of 11 fours and two sixes.
Krishnappa Gowtham (RR) – Bowling figures of 3-0-28-0 might be suggesting that he was average with the ball in hand, but when it mattered the most, Gowtham hit two sixes to bring back his team into the match. In the second innings, he only batted in the penultimate over, scoring 13 (4) with the help of two sixes.
Flops
Ambati Rayudu (CSK) – Opening the batting with Shane Watson, this match was like a chink in the armour for Rayudu as far as this season is concerned. Scoring 12 (9) at the top of the order, he was bowled by Jofra Archer in the third over.
Ben Stokes (RR) – Bowling figures of 4-0-31-0 were not too bad in the first innings. However, it was in the second innings when Stokes let all his fans down. Being promoted up the order, Stokes opened the batting with Buttler, something which he had never done before in this format. That being said, he fell to a poor shot against Harbhajan Singh, scoring 11 (7) with the help of one four and one six.
David Willey (CSK) – Opening the bowling for Chennai Super Kings, David Willey conceded runs throughout the innings. He registered bowling figures of 4-0-47-1, giving away 16 runs in the all important penultimate over of the match.
