The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have registered their third consecutive win and became the only team to remain unbeaten in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Once again the experience of the team helped the defending champions against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) as they won the match by eight runs. RR gave a lot of scary moments for CSK, but the veterans like MS Dhoni and Dwayne Bravo were too good in both the innings respectively in the end.
During the chase, the Royals had a rough start as they lost their skipper Ajinkya Rahane in the first over for a duck itself. Soon Jos Buttler and the last match’s centurion Sanju Samson followed him in the dressing room. At 14/3, Royals were in deep trouble as the CSK were keen on taking the momentum home. Rahul Tripathi (39) took the pressure off Steve Smith (28) by playing his shots.
WATCH – Jadeja Takes A Brilliant Catch, Raina Kisses Him
Smith and Rahul Tripathi added 61 runs for the fourth wicket, but after Tripathi’s dismissal in the 10th over, Royals lost two quick wickets and they were struggling at 120/6 after Krishnappa Gowtham’s dismissal in the 17th over, with them requiring 53 runs in 23 balls. Then came a partnership of between Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer as they added 41 runs in just 18 balls as the equation came down to 12 in 6 balls.
Bravo came out to bowl the final over and dismissed Stokes in the first ball and hence, Rajasthan failed to chase down the total and Chennai won the game by 8 runs.
Earlier in the day, the CSK also got off to a similar start like their opponents. Ambati Rayudu’s poor season continued even as Shane Watson failed to leave a mark after taking his time early on. Even Kedar Jadhav was dismissed by the fifth over and the home team was in deep trouble at 27/3 at one stage. But then, they had the calm and cool-headed MS Dhoni.
Along with Suresh Raina, he resurrected the innings to the large extent. The veteran duo added 61 runs for the fourth wicket and just when the things were looking great for the team, the latter was flummoxed by Jaydev Unadkat with a slower one.
WATCH – MS Dhoni Finishes The Innings With Three Sixes
On the other hand, Dhoni was calmly rotating the strike and taking the game deep. He didn’t play any rash shot or tried anything out of the box. After Raina’s wicket though Dwayne Bravo came and played a 27-run cameo much to the give some reason for his fans to cheer. As the innings went into the 19th over, Mahi went berserk and he was now set to launch his special massacre on the bowler.
Unfortunately for Unadkat, he came in the firing line in the last over. Dhoni brought all his experience together to smash the left-arm bowler for three sixes off the last four balls. The CSK skipper dispatched all kind of variations from the southpaw into the stands to churn out 28 runs off the final over to take them to a total of 175/5.
Brief Score:
Chennai Super Kings – 175/5 in 20 overs (MS Dhoni: 75*, S Raina: 36; J Archer: 2/17) defeated Rajasthan Royals – 167/8 in 20 overs (B Stokes: 46; D Chahar: 2/19, I Tahir: 2/23) by 8 runs.
Here’s how Twitter reacted as CSK registers third consecutive win:
In IPL at the moment,
Dwayne Bravo : 99 wickets for CSK
Suresh Raina : 99 catches #CSKvRR— Umang Pabari (@UPStatsman) March 31, 2019
Makes the game out of nowhere this bahubali #Dhoni #CSKvsRR
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) March 31, 2019
Bravo, Raina, Tahir and, unforgettably, Dhoni leading Dad’s Army to another memorable win!
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) March 31, 2019
Points Table after 3 matches #IPL2019 #CSKvRR #IPL pic.twitter.com/VBtlmYPBFx
— Cricketopia (@CricketopiaCom) March 31, 2019
Good game, and when it is a pressure situation, CSK invariably find a way to win. Terrific last over from DJ Bravo. #CSKvRR
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) March 31, 2019
#Bravo coming good in the end overs is awesome news for @ChennaiIPL , one of those unticked boxes for them as a team , last and this season #CSKvsRR #IPL #IPL2019 #BadriBytes
— S.Badrinath (@s_badrinath) March 31, 2019
Seen enough from @craig_arch today with both Bat,Ball & in the Field to tell me he definitely makes England a better ODI team & that’s hard to do … plus he will be in the frame for the #Ashes as well … !! #IPL2019
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) March 31, 2019
Come on @rajasthanroyals & @benstokes38 ! You got this !!!!
— Shane Warne (@ShaneWarne) March 31, 2019
Three in three for @ChennaiIPL. And three in three for @rajasthanroyals – mind you Rajasthan should have won all the three games they eventually lost #CSKvsRR
— Vikrant Gupta (@vikrantgupta73) March 31, 2019
Not Whistle Podu, but that was Whistle Todu and Whistle Fodu from Dhoni.
Very very good to see#CSKvRR— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) March 31, 2019
At the Start of #IPL2019 vs
After 3 games for all the 8 Teams.Still very early stages of the long tournament. However some signs of things to come ? #CSK #WhistlePodu #Yellove 💛🦁 pic.twitter.com/IsjjFBctA2
— Prabhu (@Cricprabhu) March 31, 2019
Rajasthan Royals have terrific talent. Need more self-belief and sustenance to finish well and win matches
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) March 31, 2019
