As it happened: Chennai Super Kings vs Rajasthan Royals, IPL 2022, Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai
By Sidharth MongaAshwin takes RR home
Against the team that represents his beloved home city, R Ashwin has carried his professional team to a top-two finish in the table. That gives them at least two matches in the playoffs. It was clinical. In the 19th he targeted the short leg-side boundary to get the six required, and in the 20th he used Pathirana's pace to get the boundary. We leave you with a teaser from our report.
"R Ashwin the allrounder carried Rajasthan Royals to a top-two finish with a tense win over Chennai Super Kings, the team that represents his home, in their final league match. On a slow pitch, both sides made superb use of the powerplay before struggling once the fields went out. Knowing their target played a part in RR’s being able to plan their innings better than CSK.
CSK’s slowdown was drastic: they could only double their powerplay score of 75 despite the set batter Moeen Ali batting through the innings only to go from 59 off 21 to 93 off 57. RR scored 47 off their first five but the next eight overs brought them just 37 runs and two wickets. In the end, Ashwin, promoted at No. 5, hit three sixes in his 23-ball 40 to go with his bowling analysis of 4-0-28-1 to ease RR home from 43 required off the last four."
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Nineteen off two now
R Ashwin is carrying this chase with 25 off 17. He ended Solanki's over with a six into the short boundary on the leg side, and then ramped Pathirana in the 18th for four more. It has not been an easy chase but RR have somehow managed to stay in touch. Only just. Although our Forecaster has them down as 81% favourites to win.
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Pathirana can wait. Solanki is here
MS Dhoni gives the 17th over to Prashant Solanki, and not Pathirana. Shimron Hetmyer hits him for a four first ball straight down the ground, but when he tries the slog sweep, in his mind with the turn, next ball, the ball doesn't turn and he gets a massive top edge. Solanki has vindicated dhoni's choice. It's 39 off 22 now.
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Pathirana's time is here
Moeen Ali has done his job with figures of 4-0-20-1. We are into the death overs. CSK need 43 off the last four. Matheesha Pathirana has two overs left. This is the time we get to see him at the death under pressure.
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Jaiswal falls
Yashasvi Jaiswal hits legspinner Prashant Jaiswal for a six first ball he bowls, but then puts a short ball straight into the lap of deep square leg. RR now need 47 off the last five. Shimron Hetmyer joins Ashwin in the middle.
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Fifty for Jaiswal
In this period of low returns for Jos Buttler, Yashaswi Jaiswal has carried RR upfront, but today he needs to bat through, which he is doing. Especially with R Ashwin hitting Moeen Ali for a six, he has some breathing space. He gets to 50 off 39.
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RR in a rut
After Sanju Samson, even Devdutt Padikkal gets stuck and is out for three off nine, trying a big sweep off Moeen Ali. They have all struggled to place the ball once the field has gone out. They have lost 28 for 2 in six overs since the powerplay. It's 80 for 3, and R Ashwin has been promoted.
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Santner gets Samson
Mitchell Santner leaps full length in his follow-through and takes a crunched shot hit back over him to send back Sanju Samson. He is gone for 15 off 20. He kept hitting the fielders. The dismissal, a superbly timed shot, kinda epitomises that struggle. RR 71 for 2 after nine overs. They are still 79% favourites to win.
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RR own the powerplay
They might have lost Jos Buttler early, but Rajasthan Royals have made an excellent start with 52 coming off the powerplay. They now need just 99 off 84 to make sure they finish in top two. That despite losing 12 tosses will be some achievement.
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Buttler's dip
63 Number of runs Jos Buttler has scored in his last five innings at a run a ball. Before that he scored 566 runs in nine innings at a strike rate of 155. He is gone for two again.
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How bad was that dip?
It was the second-worst in fact. Let Sampath Bandarupalli explain: "CSK scored exactly 50% of their runs today (75 out of 150) in the powerplay, the second-highest percentage of the total by any team in powerplay overs in a completed IPL innings. Highest is 53.41% by KXIP vs RCB in 2018 when they were 47/3 in the powerplay but bowled out for 88."
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Spin brotherhood
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T20 Time Out
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Chahal gets purple cap back
"The pitch is a little slow," Yuzvendra Chahal says after accepting his purple cap. "If you bowl your lengths, it is difficult to hit. To MS, I was backing my strength, and looking to use the big boundary on the off side. With 150, if you have wickets in hand, you should win."
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McCoy 4-0-20-2
Obed McCoy has been part of the turnaround, bowling his four overs for 20 and getting Moeen out in the final over. Just four come off that final over. CSK were 75 for 1 at the end of the powerplay, and end with just 75 more. Not sure the pitch changed too much. Also it seemed there was dew towards the end of the innings.
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Chahal 4-0-26-2
What a superlative spell from Yuzvendra Chahal, which includes the 19th over too. With his final ball, Chahal gets MS Dhoni by bowling wide of his reach and getting the toe end of the bat. CSK are 146 for 5 after that great start of 75 runs in the powerplay. Moeen still seven short of a hundred after he scored 59 off the first 21 balls he faced. The next 35 balls have got him just 34.
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Ashwin 4-0-28-1
He got taken for 16 in his first over, inside the powerplay, but R Ashwin has come back beautifully to concede just 12 in his final three. He also took the wicket of Devon Conway to start the turnaround. CSK are 111 for 4 in 14 overs. Forty-four balls without a boundary. Moeen Ali 18 off 20 since the powerplay.
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Rayudu falls too
The crowd goes wild as Yuzvendra Chahal gets Ambati Rayudu caught at slip. It is time for MS Dhoni, but on the back of a spell of play where they have lost three wickets for 12 runs in 3.2 overs. A good time to remind you that at the toss Dhoni confirmed he will be playing the next IPL. And Sanju Samson has dropped him third ball. Off the inside edge and a big deflection too.
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The slowdown
11 Number of runs scored in overs 8, 9 and 10, for the loss of Devon Conway and N Jagadeesan. CSK 94 for 3 in 10 overs, but Moeen Ali still there on 70 off 31.
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Ashwin finally strikes
But it is still only Devon Conway gone, trying to sweep R Ashwin but missing altogether. Moeen is still there on 66 off 25. CSK 85 for 2 in 7.3 overs.
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Moeen's rare feat
3 Number of non-openers that have scored a fifty inside the powerplay in the whole of IPL. The other two were Wriddhiman Saha and Suresh Raina in the 2014 IPL.
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Best in powerplay
Maruti Suzuki ASKcricinfo stat: What is the highest individual score inside the powerplay this IPL?
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Nineteen-ball fifty for Moeen
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Moeen Ali is signing off in style. He has taken care of Prasidh Krishna's hard lengths in the fourth over. He has countered R Ashwin's away spin in the fifth. And now he has taken down Trent Boult to all parts of the ground: square leg, midwicket, long-on, third man, point, extra cover. This is the second-fastest fifty for CSK in all IPL. And Boult has gone fore six boundaries in the sixth over.
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Moeen is a runaway train
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That's the fourth over of the innings. Prasidh Krishna does fast bowlers do to Moeen Ali: bowl short or short of a length, but Moeen has smacked everything clean. He is 18 off 10. CSL 33 for 1 in four overs.
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Boult strikes in first over again
4 Number of wickets Trent Boult has taken in the first over of an innings this IPL. Only Mukesh Choudhary, who will be in action later tonight, has taken more: 5. Ruturaj Gaekwad is gone, playing for the swing, but edging one that goes with the angle. CSK 3 for 1 in two overs.
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Make your own luck
Maruti Suzuki ASKcricinfo stat: Which team has lost most tosses in a single IPL?
Rajasthan Royals have equalled Chennai Super Kings of 2012, which is when they were then losing finalists.
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T20 Timeout
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CSK bat first, Rayudu back
The big news from the toss out of the way, MS Dhoni has won the toss, and CSK will be batting first because he wants his young batters to bat without the pressure of chasing. It plays in RR's hands because they would have bowled first anyway.
A change each for both the sides. Ambati Rayudu comes back to replace Shivam Dube, which takes out a critical left-hand middle-order batter. RR have good news. As expected, Shimron Hetmyer is back, replacing James Neesham.
Rajasthan Royals 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Jos Buttler, 3 Sanju Samson (capt. & wk), 4 Devdutt Padikkal, 5 Shimron Hetmyer, 6 Riyan Parag, 7 R Ashwin, 8 Obed McCoy, 9 Trent Boult, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Prasidh Krishna
Chennai Super Kings 1 Devon Conway, 2 Ruturaj Gaikwad, 3 Moeen Ali, 4 N Jagadeesan, 5 Ambati Rayudu, 6 Mitchell Santner, 7 MS Dhoni (capt. & wk), 8 Prashant Solanki, 9 Simarjeet Singh, 10 Mukesh Choudhary, 11 Matheesha Pathirana
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MSD confirms he will be back next year
MS Dhoni will "definitely" be back nest year, which confirms Nagraj Gollapudi's breaking story earlier today. He says it will be unfair to the city of Chennai and the CSK fans if he doesn't say goodbye in front of them. He won't mind the away games either, which will give him a bit of a farewell tour. Having said that, he is not ruling out playing 2024 either. Here's what he had to say. Verbatim.
Definitely. It’s a simple reason: it will be unfair to not play in Chennai and say thank you. Mumbai is one place, where as a team and as an individual I have got a lot of love and affection. But it wouldn’t be nice to the CSK fans. And also, hopefully next year there will be an opportunity where the teams will be travelling so it will be a like thank you to all the different places where we will be playing games at different venues. Whether it will be my last year or not that’s a big question because you know we can’t really predict about something two years down the line, but definitely I’ll be working hard to come back strong next year.
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It's RR vs CSK but LSG will be watching
Match 68, IPL 2022. On the field Rajasthan Royals are playing Chennai Super Kings, but it is actually a contest between Royals and Lucknow Super Giants. If RR win, they finish No. 2. If they don't, LSG finish No. 2. And a top-two finish is crucial because that allows them an extra match in the playoffs should they lose the first qualifier.
Not that CSK don't have skin in this. If they win this, their last match, they will make sure they don't finish at the bottom of the table. If they lose, Mumbai Indians will have a chance in their last match to overtake CSK.
Royals are welcoming Shimron Hetmyer back, which will be a shot in the arm for them. CSK are going to make changes to give chances to as many players as they can without playing a lopsided XI. That makes it an interesting toss to follow.
In the USA, you can watch the action live on ESPN+ .
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