CRICKET NEWS - Spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Moeen Ali grabbed five wickets between them in a devastating four-over burst to ease the Chennai Super Kings to a lopsided 45-run victory over the Rajasthan Royals in their IPL clash at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Monday.
CSK now move up to four points, within striking distance of tournament leaders Royal Challengers Bangalore, as they enjoyed a comfortable evening in Mumbai where the late evening dew was far less of a factor than was feared.
Chasing a challenging 189 for victory, the Royals were well in the game while opener Jos Buttler was at the crease.
The Englishman played some glorious strokes to reach 49 in 35 balls before he was bowled by a beauty from Jadeja in the 12th over, the quicker delivery gripping in the pitch to turn sharply and knock back his off stump.
With Buttler gone the innings collapsed in a heap as Jadeja trapped Shivam Dube leg before in the same over before Ali grabbed 3-3 in his first two overs.
First, he trapped David Miller leg before, then he had Riyan Parag (3) and Chris Morris (0) caught on the midwicket boundary by his spin twin – two particularly soft dismissals.
So, from 87 for two, the Royals had slumped to 95 for seven in less than four overs, losing five wickets for eight runs.
Rahul Tewatia and Jaydev Unadkat put a slight gloss on the innings with an eighth-wicket stand of 42 off 28 balls, but by then the contest was effectively over and there was time for Jadeja to gleefully take another two catches in the outfield to make it four in total as the Royals stumbled to 143 for nine.
Ali finished with 3-7 off three overs, while Jadeja completed his full spell, taking 2-28.
Earlier, left-arm paceman Sam Curran impressed with the wickets of Manan Vohra and the important scalp of CSK skipper Sanju Samson (1), caught at mid-on after mistiming a pull.
FAF TOP SCORES FOR CSK
Earlier, Chennai, put in to bat, finished with a flourish to reach 188 for nine.
After a bright start for CSK, it was the Royals who controlled the middle overs with the canny use of slower deliveries from their pacemen accounting for a number of wickets, with Chetan Sakariya grabbing 3-36 in his four overs, comprising the prize scalps of Ambati Rayadu, Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni who all perished just as they got in.
In the end it was opener Faf du Plessis who emerged as CSK’s top scorer with an aggressive 33 off 17 balls, including four fours and two sixes.
Ali, timing the ball beautifully, continued the innings momentum with a bright 26 off 20 balls, but he became the only victim of legspinner Rahul Tewatia, coolly caught on the boundary by Riyan Parag, one of three that he pouched in the innings.
There followed a mid-innings slump in which a rusty Dhoni once again struggled, needing 17 balls for his 18 runs. But thereafter the Royals finished on a high, adding 55 runs off the last five overs with Dwayne Bravo to the fore, cracking an unbeaten 20 off eight balls while Sam Curran helped himself to 13 off six.
Aside from Sakariya, Morris also impressed, claiming 2-33 in his spell, including the wickets of Du Plessis – caught by Parag on the point boundary – and Jadeja.
CHENNAI SUPER KINGS: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Faf du Plessis, Moeen Ali, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Sam Curran, Dwayne Bravo, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar
RAJASTHAN ROYALS: Jos Buttler, Manan Vohra, Sanju Samson (capt & wk), Shivam Dube, David Miller, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Chris Morris, Jaydev Unadkat, Chetan Sakariya, Mustafizur Rahman
