Jos Buttler and Steve Smith played unbeaten knocks of 70 and 26 respectively as Rajasthan Royals (RR) defeated Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by seven wickets on Monday here at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
With this win, Steve Smith-led Royals has moved to the fifth position in the Indian Premier League (IPL) points table with 8 points from 10 matches while CSK is now languishing at the bottom with just six points. Chasing 126, RR openers provided the side with a steady start as Ben Stokes and Robin Uthappa put on 26 runs for the first wicket. However, on the last ball of the third over, Deepak Chahar provided the muchneeded breakthrough to CSK as he dismissed Stokes (19).
In the very next over, Uthappa also gifted his wicket as he tried to play a ramp shot, but the ball landed in the hands of CSK skipper MS Dhoni off the bowling of Josh Hazlewood. Dhoni was in action once again as he took a blinder of a catch off the bowling of Chahar to dismiss Sanju Samson (0), reducing RR to 28/3 in the 5th over. Steve Smith and Jos Buttler then got together at the crease and the duo retrieved the innings for RR by forming an unbeaten stand of 98 runs. In the end, both batsmen took Royals over the line by seven wickets and 15 balls to spare.
Earlier, RR restricted CSK to 125-5 in the allotted twenty overs. Ravindra Jadeja top-scored for Chennai as he played an unbeaten knock of 35 runs.
After opting to bat first, CSK openers Sam Curran and Faf du Plessis failed to set up a solid foundation for the side and the latter departed in the third over after scoring 10 runs. Shane Watson then joined Curran in the middle and the duo stitched a brief 13-run stand for the second wicket. Pacer Karthik Tyagi provided the second breakthrough for his side as he scalped Watson (8) in the fourth over.
Ambati Rayudu and Curran then tried to retrieve the innings for CSK as the duo put on 27 runs for the third wicket. However, Rajasthan once again made a come back as the side scalped wickets of Curran (22) and Rayudu (13), reducing CSK to 56/4 in the 10th over. Jadeja played an unbeaten knock of 35* while Kedar Jadhav scored 4 runs as CSK posted a total of more than 120 runs.
