Mhatre, Brevis shine but RR restrict CSK to 187
Madhwal and Yudhvir took three each wickets each as RR found reverse swing in the back half
ESPNcricinfo staff
20-May-2025 • 3 hrs ago
Ayush Mhatre blazed away to a 20-ball 43 • AFP/Getty Images
Chennai Super Kings 187 for 8 (Mhatre 43, Brevis 42, Madhwal 3-29, Yudhvir 3-47) vs Rajasthan Royals
Despite losing eight out of nine games chasing, including one off a Super Over in Delhi, Rajasthan Royals (RR) continued to chase and ended up with the exact target that they scored to tie their last match in Delhi. The RR fans might feel jittery, but this was an excellent bowling performance to keep Chennai Super Kings (CSK) down to what looks like a below-par total on a true batting surface.
While it took some reverse swing in the back half to restrict CSK, the first half featured some innocuous wickets to simple good-length bowling. There was no swing or seam or changes of pace that resulted in these wickets. Yudhvir Singh, brought in to replace Fazalhaq Farooqi, struck three times: he got Devon Conway, Urvil Patel and Ravindra Jadeja.
Around these falling wickets, though, CSK's two young finds of the season, Ayush Mhatre and Dewald Brevis, scored breezy 40s. Mhatre got 43 off 20 balls, and Brevis 42 from 25. Between these two existed a confused mess, which also involved R Ashwin and Jadeja batting together.
When RR withheld Wanindu Hasaranga for MS Dhoni, it gave Akash Madhwal an opportunity to reverse the ball, which started the real slowdown for CSK: they had maintained a run rate of 10 an over pretty much throughout despite the falling wickets. Madhwal got one to tail away, which ended in the wicket of Brevis. After that, Hasaranga did his job of tying down Dhoni, going for just 27 runs in his four overs despite two sixes by Shivam Dube.
Madhwal completely shut CSK down in the end, bowling all his four overs in the back half, for just 29 runs. He nailed at least eight yorkers to go with low full tosses and ones that fell just short of being yorkers. When they are reversing, even these balls are difficult to hit. Dube hit one low full toss straight down the throat of long-on. Conspicuous by absence were innovative shots to upset the length. When Dhoni did try one, he found short fine leg to be dismissed for 16 off 17 balls. Madhwal ended with figures of 4-0-29-3 as just 17 runs came off the last three overs.