This was Rajasthan Royals’ 200th Indian Premier League (IPL) game, and they made it an occasion to savour at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur. An emphatic 32-run thrashing of the Chennai Super Kings took them to the top of the table, while pushing the visitors down to third. It was Rajasthan’s second win of the season against Chennai, and their sixth in the last seven meetings between the two. Whisper it softly, but the league’s most consistent side may have a bogey team, one that wears pink.
Jaiswal the pick of a talented bunch
Prithvi Shaw, Sarfaraz Khan, Tilak Varma, Yash Dhull. Just a few of the young Indian batters with impressive numbers in domestic cricket who see this edition of the IPL as an opportunity to break into India’s white-ball sides. For the moment though, all of them trail behind Yashasvi Jaiswal, whose dazzling 43-ball 77 took him past 300 runs for the current season. Jaiswal had started the season with eye-catching innings against Sunrisers Hyderabad (54 off 37 balls) and Delhi Capitals (60 off 31). But after failures in away matches in Chennai and Ahmedabad, the fluency seemed to have gone missing. Both against Lucknow Super Giants (44 off 35) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (47 from 37), the sparkle was mixed with stodge. Tonight, on a Sawai Man Singh pitch that was always going to slow down a little as the evening wore on, he was in magical touch. Two superb cover-drives got him going, and thereafter, each time it appeared that he might be slowing down, he would break free with a glorious stroke. He hit it a mile down the ground, cut cleverly in front of point, swept and pulled, and flicked or clipped behind square when the bowlers erred in line. On a night when Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson couldn’t deliver, Jaiswal’s was a real masterclass.
Pace on a slow pitch
R Ashwin and Adam Zampa may have dominated the wickets column for Rajasthan, but it was the low-profile, new-ball duo of Sandeep Sharma and Kuldip Yadav that made the biggest difference in this game. For Chennai to pull off what would have been a record chase at this venue, they needed the openers to get off to a flyer. Ruturaj Gaikwad gave it a go, but with Devon Conway batting as though stuck in quicksand, only 42 came from the Powerplay. Earlier in the day, Chennai’s three pacers had been hammered to the tune of 122 runs in 10 overs. As a rueful MS Dhoni said later, a couple of dozen of those runs were edges off perfectly good deliveries, but no one could excuse Rajasthan of not throwing the kitchen sink. Sandeep and Kuldip bowled seven overs for just 42, conceding just four fours. With no early momentum to power them, Chennai never got close to the asking rate.
Dhoni, the Carrom Ball and the Making of Ashwin.
Ashwin gets one over his old mates…again
By his standards, Ashwin’s first couple of overs were relatively uneventful, and went for 19 runs. With the T20 game being how it is, Ashwin seldom gets the chance to set up a batter as he would in red-ball cricket. But he has so much experience, and so many subtle variations that going after him is always fraught with risk. After Conway’s go-slow, Chennai needed Ajinkya Rahane to deliver one of those cameos which have made him this season’s surprise package. But when he stepped out to Ashwin, the drift was his undoing, and the lofted shot was well taken on the run by Buttler. Ambati Rayudu lasted two balls, smearing one to Jason Holder at deep midwicket. Just one came from the over, and though Shivam Dube took Ashwin downtown for two massive sixes in his final over, figures of 2-35 were another gentle reminder to Chennai of the talent that they helped hone for eight seasons.
Low-impact Rayudu
As of now, Chennai’s impact-player strategy is pretty simple. Rayudu doesn’t field, and comes out only to bat. Like Faf du Plessis, who has been nursing a intercostal-muscle strain, Rayudu no longer plays international cricket. He last played a first-class game six years ago, and, unlike du Plessis, the BCCI’s current stance doesn’t allow him to play in other T20 leagues around the world. Low on match practice and fitness, he has looked a man out of time while scratching around for 83 runs (61 balls) from seven innings this season. Chennai’s planning is usually meticulous, but when it comes to the impact player, it’s probably time for a rethink.
Jurel and the breakout season
The list of Under-19 stars who have tried to make a dent in the IPL and failed is long and depressing. Before this season, only the cricket geeks would have been able to tell you who Dhruv Jurel was – vice-captain of the Indian team at the U-19 World Cup in 2020. Now, he has another identity. Shimron Hetmyer is Rajasthan’s No.1 finisher, capable of incredibly powerful blitzes when in the mood. So far this season, though, Jurel has been even better, smashing 130 runs from just 66 balls. Between overs 14 and 17, Chennai had pulled things back beautifully, conceding just 28 and taking three wickets. Then, Jurel and Devdutt Padikkal started swinging, and as many as 49 were clattered in the final three overs. Not every stroke was played with Jaiswal’s timing, but the end result was the same.