Rajasthan Royals (RR) defeated Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by five wickets in a close thrilling encounter at Brabourne Stadium in the ongoing season of Indian Premier League (IPL). Ravichandran Ashwin was the hero for Rajasthan with both bat and ball. He also grabbed player of the match award for his brilliant knock.

However, the run chase for Rajasthan weren’t as simple as Ashwin made it look like. In the 9th over of the game, Mitchell Santner took a mind-blowing catch on his own bowling to dismiss Sanju Samson. This wicket completely put Rajasthan behind in the game. 

Santner bowled a flighted ball on a fullish length. Sanju Samson tried to smash this through mid-off. But the ball stopped a bit before coming to the bat and he hit the shot towards Santner. Mitchell Santner took an amazing reactionary catch above the head in his follow through. 

The ball was travelling really fast but Mitchell Santner brought his hands at the right time. Everyone on the field and in the stadium appreciated this reflex catch of New Zealand All Rounder. Sanju Samson managed to score just 15 runs in 20 balls Before getting out. He couldn’t play a captain’s knock today.

Watch the clip here:

Meanwhile, chasing 151 runs , Rajasthan Royals didn’t get a good start. They lost the early wicket of Jos Buttler. But Yashaswi Jaiswal played an amazing knock of 59 runs in 44 balls. However  Sanju Samson, Devdutt Padikkal and Shimron Hetmyer were also dismissed cheaply. In the end, Ravichandran Ashwin played an impactful knock of 40 runs in 23 balls to finish the match for RR.

I didn’t expect to come back so strong so well – Sanju Samson

Meanwhile, Rajasthan Royals produced a superb comeback after going for plenty in the powerplay. Riding on Moeen Ali‘s breathtaking knock, Chennai accumulated 75 runs in the first six overs before Rajasthan Royals crawled back in the game.

Sanju Samson was happy with how the bowled applied themselves after a poor start. Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, Samson said:

“Feels really good, it has been standout. Almost everyone has stood out for us. It was important to understand they have quality batters. I didn’t expect to come back so strong, so well. It was a great effort. I wanted to bring him (McCoy) after the powerplay, he also had really great change-ups.”

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