In what can be described as a match that was a cliffhanger by all means, Chennai Super Kings pulled off a spectacular last over win against Rajasthan Royals, winning the match by 5 wickets on Tuesday.
Chasing RR’s 148, CSK opened with Smith and McCullum, but the partnership didn’t bear fruits as McCullum perished in the 3rd over to Ankit Sharma for 6. The next man in was Suresh Raina, who fell in the 5th over to Sharma again for 2. Du Plessis walked into the middle and together with Smith, took the team to 74/2 in 9 overs, but Cooper was brought back into the attack and that move paid, as he scalped Smith for 44.
In a surprise move, Ashwin was sent in to join du Plessis and the duo took the score to 100/3 in 14 overs, and it looked like the match was slowly swinging in CSK’s favour. However, RR’s smiles was brought back by Bhatia, who removed Ashwin for 14 in the 15th over, bringing skipper Dhoni into the middle. That partnership didn’t go a long way as du Plessis was removed in the 18th over by Faulkner for 38. The score was now 124/5 in 18 overs. Jadeja was the new man in and the match was in for a nail-biting end. With two balls to go, Dhoni and Jadeja literally snatched the pie from RR’s mouths!
Earlier, Rajasthan Royals won the toss and decided to set a target for Chennai Super Kings. Opening the innings for the batting side were Shane Watson and Ankit Sharma, who aggressively took the side past the 50-run mark, 50/0 in 7 overs. However, Ashwin got the breakthrough for CSK, removing Sharma in the 8th over for 30. This brought Ajinkya Rahane into the middle, but he couldn’t make a lasting impact, as he was sent back by being run out in the 11th over for 4.
Watson fell two overs later to Mohit Sharma for 51, taking the total to 102/3 in 13 overs. K Nair and Stuart Binny came together, but not for long, as Nair soon found himself walking back for 8, thanks to a Badree delivery in the 15th over. Binny and Smith took the total to 129/4 in 17 overs, but that partnership was broken by Mohit Sharma when he got Smith for 9. The penultimate over saw the fall of two wickets, taken by Ravindra Jadeja: J Faulkner 1(4) and S Binny (17). RR finally set a target of 148/8.
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