Two years later and its the same bowler that saves the day for the Rajasthan Royals. Sandeep Sharma does it the second time and that too against MS Dhoni. With five wickets down, the Super Kings found their legend on the field to backup the team. In 11 balls he faced, Dhoni could muster only 16 runs while smashing a six and a boundary and taking the team closer to the target. All eyes were on Thala and fans were hoping he could save the day for the CSK but Sandeep’s death bowling dominated over Dhoni’s brilliance.
Ravindra Jadeja 32 (22) and Ruturaj Gaikwad 63 (44) did quite well to help Chennai Super Kings’ cause in the run chase of 183. But the Rajasthan Royals bowlers did their best to stop them and succeed too.
Hasaranga shines with a four-fer
Wanindu Hasaranga’s four-wicket haul was another highlighting event of today’s game. Taking the most important wicket of CSK highest scorer Ruturaj Gaikwad, Hasaranga’s bowling strike got Rahul Tripathi, Shivam Dube, and Vijay Shankar under his spell. Jofra Archer too dominated the second innings giving away just 13 runs and opening the scope for Royals with the first strike against Rachin Ravindra.
A noteworthy appreciation to Nitish Rana’s 81 runs score in the first innings that played a big part in today’s win. With 10 boundaries and 5 sixes, Rana gained quite the attention of fans becoming the highest scorer of the game and a strike rate of 225.00. The Rajasthan Royals finally win their first game of the season.