The last ball, six runs required, Mahendra Singh Dhoni on strike, a dream of every cricket fan, which happened last night when CSK faced RR at Chepauk.
The loud audience at Chepauk was silenced by Sandeep Sharma’s final delivery as the visitors defeated the hosts by 3 runs. At the end of the game, there were pink glimmers among the sea of yellow as Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja appreciated Sanju Samson and his team.
With this victory, Lucknow Super Giants and RR are now tied for first place. At this time, each team has six points. Sandeep Sharma of RR gets praised for maintaining his composure. He bowled the final over that ensured the Royals’ victory by defending 21 runs. RR eventually achieved victory at Chepauk for the first time since 2008.
In his 200th game as CSK captain, Dhoni asked the Rajasthan Royals to bat first. However, their innings progressed slowly as they lost Yashasvi Jaiswal (10) early on with 11 runs being scored. After the Power-play, they quickly reached 57/1 and appeared to be cruising to a massive total with Buttler and Padikkal putting on a superb performance.
Padikkal hit two consecutive fours off Maheesh Theekshana in the third over after going after the bowling with Buttler. They then battered the Sri Lankan for 17 runs in the fifth over, with Padikkal hitting a brilliantly driven boundary and Buttler smashing him for sixes and fours.
Padikkal also hit Tushar Deshpande for back-to-back fours in the sixth over, and Buttler hit Moeen Ali for back-to-back sixes in the eighth over while playing for England.
However, Chennai Super Kings put a stop to their momentum as Ravindra Jadeja took two quick wickets. He forced Padikkal to top-edge to a deep backward square leg when he attempted to sweep one that pitched outside the off-stump, and this was the turning point for CSK. Padikkal hit five home runs in his 38-point, 26-ball total.
Sanju Samson, the captain of the Royals, was dismissed for a two-ball duck when the left-arm spinner struck him with a magnificent quicker delivery that straightened after pitching on the middle, twisted to beat the outside edge, and crashed into the off-stump.
The going was very slow for the Royals as Buttler, who had been galloping earlier, turned cautious, and R Ashwin initially struggled to get the ball moving after being dropped by Moeen Ali off the first ball he faced. As a result, the Royals managed to reach 95/3 at the halfway point and were 119/3 at the end of the 14th over, during which Ashwin managed to hit Theekshana for his first four.
Ashwin attempted to increase the scoring rate by hitting Akash Singh, a rookie, for back-to-back sixes, but the bowler was successful in getting Ashwin out when he attempted to loft a length delivery over mid-off but ended up skying it for Magala to take a straightforward catch.
Moeen Ali, a teammate, scored 52 off 36 balls, hitting one four and three sixes, before Buttler was dismissed shortly after reaching his half-century off 33 balls.
Simron Hetmyer smashed an 18-ball undefeated 30 with two fours and two sixes, but Rajasthan Royals only managed to achieve a total below average due to the quick dismissals of Dhruv Jurel (4) and Jason Holder (0).
In reply, Devon Conway of CSK scored fifty as the spin combination of Adam Zampa, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Ravichandran Ashwin turned the tide in favour of RR.
With some lusty hits, MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja battled to the final ball of the game but came up just short.
Dhoni (32 off 17 balls) and Ravindra Jadeja (25 off 15 balls), veterans of numerous exciting finishes, were on track as 21 was required off the last over. As a result of Dhoni not finishing his 200th game for CSK in the way he would have desired in front of more than 30,000 fans who were pulling for him, CSK’s final score was 172 for 6.
Sandeep appeared to lose his composure when he bowled a few wides before Dhoni lashed him over square leg and mid-wicket for a few sixes.
When the medium pacer needed 6 runs off his final two balls, he got a wide yorker to Jadeja and then a beautiful block-hole ball to Dhoni, scoring one run and giving Rajasthan Royals a three-run victory.
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