Jaipur: Chennai Super Kings produced yet another disciplined effort to beat Rajasthan Royals by four wickets in their Indian Premier League match here on Thursday night.
After restricting their rivals to a modest 151 for 7, the defending champions got over the line off the last ball when No.8 Mitchell Santner hit acclaimed allrounder Ben Stokes for a six.
Earlier, skipper M. S. Dhoni (58 in 43 balls) and Ambati Rayudu (57 off 47 balls) got the innings back on track with a 95-run stand for the fifth wicket after the Yellows had slipped to 24 for 4 in the sixth over.
The Rajasthan batsmen did not come off well. Save Jos Buttler (23 off 10 balls) at the top of the order, none of them looked the part as Dhoni’s reading of the track once again helped CSK.
Left-arm spin duo Ravindra Jadeja (2/20 in 4 overs) and Mitchell Santner (1/25 in 4 overs) checked the run-flow as Royals batsmen were always playing a catch-up game.
Even Imran Tahir (0/28 in 4 overs), who went for a few more runs compared to the other two spinners, ended with decent enough figures.
Royals skipper Ajinkya Rahane (14 off 11) failed once again with seamer Deepak Chahar (2/33 in 4 overs) trapping him leg before.
Buttler belted Shardul Thakur (2/44 in 4 overs) for a few boundaries before he mistiming one which was easily caught by Ambati Rayudu.
Once Buttler was gone, Royals lost the momentum as wickets fell at regular imtervals. Steve Smith (15,22 balls) struggled once again as he slog swept Ravindra Jadeja towards deep mid-wicket only to find Rayudu. Samson also top edged a sweep which was caught by substitute fielder Dhruv Shorey.
Scorecard
Rajasthan Royals: Ajikya Rahane lbw Deepak Chahar 14, Jos Buttler c Ambati Rayudu b Thakur 23, Sanju Samson c (sub) Shorey b Santner 6, Steven Smith c Ambati Rayudu b Ravindra Jadeja 15, Rahul Tripathi c Kedar Jadhav b Ravindra Jadeja 10, Ben Stokes b Deepak Chahar 28, Riyan Parag c Mahendra Singh Dhoni b Shardul Thakur 16, Jofra Archer not out 13, Shreyas Gopal not out 19. Extras (lb-1, w-6) 7. Total (for 7 wkts, 20 overs) 151.
FoW: 1-31, 2-47, 3-53, 4-69, 5-78, 6-103, 7-126.
Bowling: Deepak Chahar 4-0-33-2, Mitchell Santner 4-0-25-1, Shardul Thakur 4-0-44-2, Ravindra Jadeja 4-0-20-2, Imran Tahir 4-0-28-0.
Chennai Super Kings: Shane Watson b Dhawal Kulkarni 0, Faf du Plessis c Rahul Tripathi b Jaydev Unadkat 7, Suresh Raina run out 4, Ambati Rayudu c Shreyas Gopal b Ben Stokes 57, Kedar Jadhav c Ben Stokes b Jofra Archer 1, Mahendra Singh Dhoni b Ben Stokes 58, Ravindra Jadeja not out 9, Mitchell Santner not out 10. Extras (w 3, nb 1, lb 5) 9. Total (6 wickets; 20 overs) 155.
FoW: 1-0, 2-5, 3-15, 4-24, 5-119, 6-144.
Bowling: Dhawal Kulkarni 3-1-14-1, Jaydev Unadkat 3-0-23-1, Jofra Archer 4-1-19-1, Riyan Parag 3-0-24-0, Shreyas Gopal 4-0-31-0, Ben Stokes 3-0-39-2.
