After having sealed their place in the playoffs of the Indian Premier League 2021, MS Dhoni led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) faced a defeat to Rajasthan Royals (RR).
Rajasthan Royals won the toss and opted to bowl first. Put into bat, CSK opener Ruturaj Gaikwad smashed an unbeaten 101 off 60 balls with 9 fours and 5 sixes. Along with him, a few cameos from others helped CSK put up a massive total of 190.
While chasing, RR got off to a flying start where the young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal smashed a 21-ball 50. They stitched 77 runs within the powerplay and eventually won the game within 17.3 overs, courtesy of Shivam Dube’s unbeaten 64 off 42, including 4 fours and as many sixes.
Timely reminder that Ruturaj Gaikwad’s first three scores of IPL 2021 were 5, 5 & 10. Fleming was unequivocal that the franchise would support & back him.Since then 64, 33, 75, 4, 88*, 38, 40, 45 & 101* today. No team like CSK, no coach like Flem, no leader like Dhoni in the IPL!
— Raunak Kapoor (@RaunakRK) October 2, 2021
After the match, Ruturaj Gaikwad, who won the Player of the Match said: “It was a slow wicket at the start and slightly damp, as the game progressed it got better. It was important for one of the batters to stay till the 14th or 15th over. I didn’t manage to do it in the last few games thankfully it happened today. I am working on timing the ball really well and trying to maintain my shape. It has worked for me for many years. Right from when I started playing cricket, I have relied on timing. Today also I relied on timing and thankfully it is coming off. My selection in the CSK team in 2019 where I didn’t get a chance to play, being in the dressing room I got to learn a lot. I got to know some routines, I got to know what hard work to go through, it was a very good learning curve for me. That one thing really helped me a lot. It was a dream, started really slow, didn’t dream of getting a hundred, aim was to get to a total of maybe 160-170. I like it (Orange Cap) but I would have loved to be on the winning side today.”
We are aware of our abilities – Sanju Samson
Sanju Samson, the Rajasthan Royals captain, said: “We are aware of the abilities of the people we have in our batting line-up. That’s why it’s disappointing when we lose. The wicket was behaving really well in the last 3-4 overs, so we knew it’d be much better in the second innings. We just wanted to back ourselves. I am happy I guessed it (pitch getting better in the second innings) right. They (openers) have been giving good starts, they almost finished off the game in the powerplay. They were going for the kill. Very happy for young Jaiswal, he’s played really well throughout the tournament, we are very sure he’ll make it big. (Secret behind Jaiswal’s power) He keeps on eating (laughs). We have been discussing about Dube from the last 2-3 games. We thought today might be his day. He has been working hard in the nets, very happy for him. Unbelievable batting by Gaikwad. We are really afraid of a batsman like him. Plays a lot of cricketing shots, there’s no risk the way he plays. We need to respect those type of batsmen. Very happy that he scored a really good hundred, respect him. We are not thinking too far ahead, one match at a time.”
MS Dhoni, the Chennai Super Kings captain, said: “A bad toss to lose. 190 was a good score, and the dew made it flat, and the ball started coming on well. You needed to bat well, and they did that, and put pressure on the bowlers. They just took the game away in the first 6 overs. 250 would’ve been closer to par (Warning: sarcasm), given the way they were going. It was stopping a bit when their wristspinners were bowling, and it started coming on better later, that’s when Ruturaj capitalised really well. Often when you lose the game it can get brushed under the carpet but it was a brilliant innings. I think the batsmen must assess quickly what is a good score, and you tend to go hard in the T20 format and then realise that it’s not a 160-180 wicket. They assessed the conditions quickly, and they didn’t let pressure get to the middle order. Deepak was really good with the new ball in earlier games, and we did miss him, because today the bowlers were under the pump. We could have used the dimensions better in terms of setting fields too. It’s important to forget but also learn from this game, because there’s no point learning if this happens in a playoff match.”
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