Burning bright
Chennai, May 12
Chennai Super Kings stayed in contention for a place in the IPL playoffs with a five-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals after pacer Simarjeet Singh exemplified the home team’s discipline with the ball with career-best figures of 3/26 here today.
Wonderful feeling, especially in our last home game of the league stage. Good to get a win. As a team, we have stroke-players so my job was to stay there till the end. Definitely we would love to play on such wickets. It brings our spinners into play. — Ruturaj Gaikwad, CSK Captain
I am very thankful to the CSK management, the physio and my trainer to treat me the way they did when I was injured. It is a blessing. — Simarjeet Singh, Player of the match
In a low-scoring match, which had its share of drama with Ravindra Jadeja being given out for obstructing the field, CSK chased down a target of 142 with 10 balls to spare on a tricky surface.
Skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad was the star for CSK with the bat, remaining unbeaten on a 41-ball 42. Rachin Ravindra (27 off 18 balls) and Gaikwad managed a 32-run stand before the former was dismissed by Ravichandran Ashwin in the fourth over.
However, that did not have any impact on Gaikwad and Daryl Mitchell (22 off 13 balls) as they maintained a run rate of over nine and ended the powerplay at 56/1. Mitchell’s stay was cut short by spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who trapped him lbw in the eighth over to end a 35-run partnership with Gaikwad.
Brief scores
- RR: 141/5 in 20 overs (Parag 47*; Simarjeet 3/26, Deshpande 2/30) vs CSK: 145/5 in 18.2 overs (Gaikwad 42*, Ravindra 27; Ashwin 2/35)
- RCB: 187/8 in 20 overs (Patidar 52, Jacks 41; Salam 2/23, Khaleel 2/31) vs DC: 140 all out in 19.1 overs (Axar 57; Dayal 3/20, Ferguson 2/23)
Saturday’s result
- KKR: 157/7 in 16 overs (Venkatesh 42, Nitish 33; Chawla 2/28, Bumrah 2/39) vs MI: 139/8 in 16 overs (Ishan 40, Tilak 32; Chakravarthy 2/17, Russell 2/34)
50
CSK have become just the third IPL side to register 50 wins at a particular venue — MA Chidambaram Stadium — after KKR (Eden Gardens) and MI (Wankhede Stadium)
3
Ravindra Jadeja became the third batter in IPL history — after Yusuf Pathan (2013) and Amit Mishra (2019) — to be adjudged out for obstructing the field
57
Sanju Samson has broken the record for most T20s as captain for RR, going past Shane Warne
With the score reading 92/3 in the 13th over, Shivam Dube decided to have a go at Ashwin in his final over. While Dube hammered Ashwin for a six and two fours in the over, the veteran had the last laugh, picking up his 50th IPL wicket at this venue.
Jadeja was dismissed after a miscommunication with Gaikwad, who refused to go for a second run even as the all-rounder was halfway down the pitch. The third man hurled it to Sanju Samson, who threw the ball towards the bowler’s end but it hit Jadeja. RR appealed and Jadeja was given out.
Rookie Sameer Rizvi then hit an eight-ball 15 not out with three fours to end the game in a jiffy.
Earlier, Simarjeet dished out his best performance in the IPL. The 26-year-old got rid of Yashasvi Jaiswal (24 runs off 21 balls), Jos Buttler (21 off 25 balls) and RR captain Samson. For the visitors, the in-form Riyan Parag top-scored with a 35-ball 47 not out.