After a winning start to IPL 2020, Chennai Super Singh stumbled upon on their second game against Rajasthan Royals at Sharjah. The three-time IPL champions fell 16 runs short chasing a mammoth total of 217 runs. Speaking at the end of the game, MS Dhoni credited Rajasthan Royals bowlers for bowling the right areas.
Chasing a massive target, Chennai Super Kings never looked in line to chase down the target. Openers Shane Watson and Murali Vijay struck a few boundaries before Rajasthan Royals pegged back. They took wickets at regular intervals to keep the run-rate ticking.
Rajasthan open their account with a win
Although Faf du Plessis played a couple of shots from one end, he hardly had any support. Leg spinner Rahul Tewatia bowled extremely well to scalp three wickets and keep Chennai out of the bay. Du Plessis played a valiant knock of 72 runs off 37 deliveries before getting out but it was not enough to take his side home.
Batting first, Sanju Samson’s blistering knock capped well Jofra Archer’s little cameo in the death overs powered Rajasthan Royals to 216 for 7. Losing debutant Yashasvi Jaiswal early, Samson joined hands with skipper Steve Smith to completely murder the Chennai bowlers.
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Sanju Samson took off in the 5th over, taking on Sam Curran, but reserved his best against spin. Jadeja went for plenty and Piyush Chawla simply went the distance. His knock of 74 runs off just 32 deliveries included nine towering sixes. Although he got out, Smith scored a fine fifty before Jofra Archer ran a rampage.
MS Dhoni credits Rajasthan Royals bowlers
He took 30 runs off the final over from Lungi Ngidi including four sixes as he powered Rajasthan Royals to 216 for seven in their 20 overs. It proved to be enough as Chennai finished 16 runs short.
Speaking at the end of the game, MS Dhoni credited Rajasthan Royals bowlers to bowl in the right areas. He also said that watching the first innings played a vital role in deciding the line and length.
“With 217 on the board, we needed a very good start which was not the case. Steve and Samson batted very well. Need to give credit to their bowlers. Once you’ve seen the first innings, you know the length to bowl. Their spinners did well to bowl away from the batsman. Our spinners made the error to bowl too full,” MS Dhoni said at the end of the game.
Speaking further, MS Dhoni also said that restricting Rajasthan Royals under 200 would have made a different story. He also showered praise on Faf du Plessis for adapting well to the conditions.
“Faf adapted very well. Something the batsmen will do, neglect square leg and go more towards long-on and long-off,” he added.
