Picture Credit: X/IPL
On Sunday, May 12, in the 61st match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, Chennai Super Kings secured a comfortable win by five wickets against Rajasthan Royals at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. With their seventh victory in the ongoing IPL season, the defending champions have gotten a step closer to making the playoffs this year.
After winning the toss, Sanju Samson, the captain of Rajasthan Royals, decided to bat first in the afternoon sun of Chennai, hoping for the pitch to wear as the match progressed. Although the opening pair of Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal didn’t lose their wickets in the powerplay, CSK managed to keep the scoring rate in check.
Simarjeet Singh picked up the wickets of both the openers, followed by the massive scalp of Sanju Samson, to put Chennai Super Kings ahead in the game. Riyan Parag played a decent innings of 47* off 35, to ensure that Rajasthan Royals didn’t collapse in a heap, scoring 141/5 in their allotted overs.
In the run chase, Rachin Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell took the attack to the RR bowlers in the powerplay stage, scoring quick-fire 20s, putting CSK ahead of the rate. The captain of CSK, Ruturaj Gaikwad, played within himself right throughout the innings, especially when the RR spin duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin started bowling well.
When RR seemed to be making a comeback in the contest, Shivam Dube smashed a quickfire 18 off 9, to put CSK on the brink of an important win. Although Ravindra Jadeja ran himself out obstructing the field, Ruturaj Gaikwad (42 off 41) and Sameer Rizvi (15 off 8) took CSK over the line with 10 balls to spare.
