Rajasthan Royals finally got their campaign up and running in this season’s Indian Premier League, but their victory came at the expense of countless broken hearts in yellow. While Wanindu Hasaranga and Nitish Rana starred on the scoresheet, the real party-crashers were Sandeep Sharma and Shimron Hetmyer. Their late-game heroics ensured that CSK fans in Guwahati were denied the fairytale finish they had all hoped for — one more match-winning moment from their beloved Thala.
Nevertheless, RR clinched victory by the barest of margins, winning by just six runs. Hasaranga claimed a four-fer, while Rana smashed a blazing half-century.
The pitch at the ACA Stadium in Guwahati resembled the surface from the first match held there, with spin playing a crucial role. CSK, boasting the formidable trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Noor Ahmad, opted to bowl first after winning the toss.
However, Royals had the perfect antidote to this dangerous spin attack — Rana. Promoted back to his preferred position at No. 3, he arrived at the crease in the first over after Yashasvi Jaiswal chipped Khaleel Ahmed to mid-off.
From there, the southpaw took matters into his hands, putting CSK on the back foot from the outset. He took debutant Jamie Overton apart, smashing 22 runs off his two overs, out of the 30 he conceded. Following that, he dismantled Ashwin in his first over, hammering him for 17 runs. Before this game, Rana had scored at a strike rate of over 186 against Ashwin without ever being dismissed by him. His onslaught propelled him to a blistering 21-ball half-century — his first for his new franchise.
However, after an 82-run partnership with Sanju Samson, Rana’s stay at the crease came to an end. Ashwin had the last laugh, dismissing him for 81 off just 36 balls. When he walked back to the pavilion, RR were 129-3 after 11.4 overs, scoring at an imposing run rate of 11.3. At that rate, they were expected to breach the 200-run mark, but CSK pulled things back, restricting them to 182-9.
Since 2019, CSK haven’t not successfully chased a target of 180 or more in the IPL, and with the stats stacked against them, their innings got off to a rocky start. Star batter and usual anchor Rachin Ravindra was sent back early, edging a Jofra Archer delivery to the ‘keeper. Rahul Tripathi and captain Ruturaj Gaikwad attempted to inject some momentum towards the end of the Powerplay.
However, Hasaranga was not to be left out of the party. With a Pushpa-esque performance, he quickly dismissed Tripathi before removing the spin-basher Shivam Dube — though credit for the latter’s wicket belonged to RR captain Riyan Parag, who took a screamer of a catch.
But Hasaranga wasn’t done yet. First, he outfoxed Vijay Shankar, castling him. Later, just as it seemed Gaikwad might pull off a miracle for CSK, Hasaranga struck again, celebrating in signature Pushpa style as Gaikwad holed out to long-on. The CSK skipper had scored 63 off 44 at the time of his dismissal.
Some late fireworks from MSDhoni, Jadeja, and Overton briefly revived CSK’s hopes, but in the end, the task proved too steep to overcome.