IPL 2023 Live Report - Chennai Super Kings vs Rajasthan Royals, Chennai

This is the first time RR have won at Chepauk since 2008. The first time they have won there despite losing the toss. It is a big big achievement to win in the dew and against a raucous home crowd. CSK showed again the ability to remain unfazed. Yet RR come out victorious.

The conditions were loaded too, but if there is a side that can go toe to toe with CSK on a slow surface, it is one with Yuzvendra Chahal, R Ashwin and Adam Zampa bowling 12 of the 20 overs. Chahal and Ashwin were superb in the dew, defending a slightly below-par total.

They created tight overs in the middle, leaving Dhoni too much to get in the end. Dhoni started off playing trying to minimise the NRR damage and then taking whatever comes his way. And in the last two, he really out the fear of god in RR.

However, in the end, Sandeep Sharma held his nerve. The win takes RR to six points from four matches, joint-top with LSG.

Another thrilling night ends. Do join us tomorrow for more.

Oh what drama and theatre created by CSK in the last two overs. MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja pounced on every single error to put threaten to chase down 40 successfully for only the third time in IPL. Sandeep Sharma is under extreme pressure.

First ball: a slower bouncer gone wide.

Second ball: Yorker wide down the leg side

Third ball: Nails the yorker. Dot

Fourth ball: Yorker slides slightly down leg, and Dhoni flicks it flat for a parallel six over long leg.

Fifth ball: Sandeep tries the yorkerker again. Better line, but length is slightly too full and Dhoni imparts serious power to hit him for another six over midwicket.

Sixth ball: Meetings. Pressure. Just seven off last three. Sandeep goes around, and nails the yorker. Six off two

Seventh ball: Over the wicket to Jadeja. Spot on with the yorker again. Dhoni has something stiff in his leg. Can't put pressure on the fielders for the second.

Eighth ball: Down to Dhoni again. He won't play the ramp. It is simple: if Sandeep errs, CSK win. But if Sandeep nails it, Dhoni won't manufacture anything. Sandeep runs in from around the wicket, and nails the yorker. Three-run win for RR.

Jason Holder looks to bowl length into the pitch in the 19th over. It works out for him largely but he does provide three loose balls. One is a wide, one a six over long leg, and then the third over long-off. All by Jadeja. Leaves CSK 21 to get off the last over: 3.5 per ball. The crowd is going mad. This is nervy time for RR. Can Sandeep Sharma execute? Is anything safe with dew these days?

To the last ball of the 18th over, MS Dhoni turns down the second that he used to routinely take and which would have put him on strike for the first over. He is not going really flat out with his running.

Now it is 34 off 9.

With a massive slog-swept six off Adam Zamp, MS Dhoni just keeps CSK alive. Did Sanju Samson go to the spin well once too often? Still 20 an over left off the last two. Jason Holder is ready to bowl the 19th. Can he leave Sandeep Sharma around 30 to defend?

Yuzvendra Chahal has backed R Ashwin up beautifully, and has picked two wickets himself. He has even bowled the 17th over for just five runs. Just the two boundaries conceded by him. In heavy dew. He has left CSK three per ball for the last three overs now. And here is Adam Zampa, the third of the trio, to bowl out.

The home crowd has been cheering against him all night, but R Ashwin has done his job superbly. He produced the wicket when RR needed someone to pull things back. He has conceded just the two boundaries in four overs. He has bowled the sixth and the 16th overs. His job is done for the night, and the spinners have left CSK 59 to get in the last four. Jason Holder has two overs left. Sandeep Sharma has two. Kuldeep Sen has two. Adam Zampa and Yuzvendra Chahal have one each. They just need to hold their nerve, you'd think. The forecaster has them 96% favourites to win. CSK looking for that one bad over full of errors.

It hasn't been the most fluent innings, and he hasn't been able to add to his fifty. The leggies have been superb again. A wrong'un away from Conway's arc from Yuzvendra Chahal, and RR hold on to another difficult catch.

be that as it may, the roof of the stadium has come off as it has brought MS Dhoni in. Sixty-three required off five overs. CSK only 9% favourites to win according to our forecaster. But you never know with the dew.

Wow what theatre. Jadeja takes a single. Cheers go louder. Dhoni punches down for one, even louder. One man carrying the night of 31000 at the ground. Never mind that the real hometown hero, R Ashwin, is bowling.

From the time R Ashwin got Shivam Dube, the legspinners have kept CSK on a tight leash. This boundary-less period has brought about the wickets of Moeen Ali and Ambati Rayudu to make it 103 for 5 in 14.1 overs.

Rayudu was the Impact Player, replacing Sisanda Magala. RR 90% favourites to win now. The asking rate has gone past two a ball.

Just as Shivam Dube manages to hit one boundary off R Ashwin, the Chepauk crowd goes "Du-be Du-be". Ashwin responds with a flighted offbreak to beat the outside edge followed by beating the inside edge to get him lbw. Although I feel Dube should have reviewed as this might be missing leg. He walks off, though, and Ashwin punches the air in elation. Can't be great having his home crowd root against him. CSK 92 for 3in 11.4.

PS: Ball tracking shows it was missing.

Tactical cat and mouse here. CSK send Shivam Dube as the spin hitter, but RR move to the tall hard-lengths bowler immediately: Kuldeep Sen. Nothing pitched in the batters' half in the 11th over. Six singles off it. Actually one of them was a leg-bye. Sen now 2-0-8-0. RR 63% favourites to win as the asking rate touches 10.

Former CSK now playing for RR gets the wicket of former RR now playing for CSK. In Chennai. R Ashwin has Ajinkya Rahane lbw with a carrom ball. More importantly, finally an over without a boundary. CSK 80 for 2 in 10 overs. However, there is a big turning point here: significant amount of ew as expected by MS Dhoni.

There has been at least one boundary in every over since the end of the third. The bowling has largely been good but there has been that one loose ball at least in each over. RR are still very much in it as CSK are 61 for 1 in eight overs. Our forecaster still has them as 63% favourites. The three spinners all have three overs each left. Sandeep Sharma and Jason Holder have two each, and Kuldeep Sen three.

R Ashwin is here. Bowling the difficult last over of the powerplay. And just to suss what Ajinkya Rahane is doing, Ashwin pulls out of the second delivery. Rahane pays back in kind by pulling out of the next delivery himself. It brings a massive cheer from the stands, and a C-S-K chant. Rahane then follows it up with a six to blow the roof off the stands. CSK end the powerplay at 45 for 1. And now the spinners will become dangerous. All eyes on the dew.

Trent Boult is a big miss given his first-over wickets, but in his absence, Sandeep Sharma and Kuldeep Sen have bowled beautifully. Sandeep has swung the ball, Kuldeep has bashed the hard length at a high pace. Gaikwad eventually has a go, but the ball is not quite there, and a massive top edge is taken by Yashasvi Jaiswal at cover. It is 10 for 1 in 2.2 overs. Here is Ajinkya Rahane.

Spin, slower balls into the pitch. Both are proving hard to hit. That's how CSK have managed to drag RR back from that start. CSK will be hoping there is now dew because RR have strengthened their spin department by bringing in Adam Zampa for Jos Buttler.

Buttler says it started iff as a really good wicket, but it started turning. He says it is a good score, but a lot depends on how much dew is there.

Distinct phases of that innings: 86 for 1 in the first eight, 24 for 2 in the next five, 25 for 1 in the next two, 9 for 1 in the next two, and 31 in the last three.

That's 15 balls without a boundary when teams usually look to start accelerating: from 14.4 to 17.4, just after the two Ashwin sixes.

This is some luck. MS Dhoni's luck. CSK are forced to bowl the profligate Moeen Ali in the 17th over because Sisanda Magala injured himself while catching R Ashwin. Now Moeen bowls one right in the slot, Buttler goes to slog-sweep it, but somehow it turns past the bat to take the off stump. This is right in the slot, and for the ball to turn that much from that full length is incredible. RR 142 for 5 in 16.2.

Now that we have had some time to reflect, here is S Rajesh on the cost and reward of the promotion of Devdutt Padikkal to No. 3.

"Padikkal did most things right after coming in at No. 3 (though he scored only 8 off 8 after the Powerplay), but his promotion also meant Sanju Samson had to drop a position to No. 4, a slot which doesn’t seem to be his favourite, going by the numbers.

It’s true that Samson strikes at 150 after the Powerplays compared to 123 for Padikkal (in the IPL since 2018), but when Samson has batted at No.4 or lower during this period, he has only averaged 20 at a strike rate of 130 (20 innings), compared with 36 at 148 when he has batted in the top three (56 innings).

It’s a no-brainer that if Padikkal plays, he has to bat in the top three, but is that worth pushing Samson down to a position where he isn’t as effective, especially given that Padikkal’s upside is only restricted to the Powerplay overs? That’s one for RR’s think-tank to ponder over."

No celebrartion, no big deal, but Jos Buttler has got there in 33 balls. He was 36 off 18 at one stage, but the spin overs have slowed him down. Can he repay those 15 balls in the middle that have fetched RR only 14 runs?

But not before having turned around a slow start with successive sixes off Akash Singh. His 30 off 21 leaves RR at 135 for 4 in 15 overs. He played just the role we expected: play out Jadeja and then throw his bat at everything. How many can Buttler and Hetmyer get in the last five now?

With Ravindra Jadeja turning the ball miles at high pace, are CSK wondering if they could have played Mitchell Santner instead of Sisanda Magala. MS Dhoni even said he expected the pitch to be slow and have turn. Matthew Hayden said the same. Dhoni also spoke of the heavy dew last two nights, which perhaps dictated the decision. Perhaps they could have kept Santner in their field-first XI?

Meanwhile Jadeja is done with figures of 4-0-21-2. Now must be the time Ashwin is asked to go for it.

It is an interesting promotion, giving two right-hand batters to a left-arm spinner on a rampage. Possibly just play out two-three overs to provide the ideal point of entry for the more specialist batters?

Bowled at high 90s, pitching on off and middle, pushing Sanju Samson back, and then turning it past the outside edge to peg back the off stump, this is a dream ball for left-arm spinners. Samson is gone for a duck, and RR have promoted R Ashwin to bat in the ninth over.

And Jadeja repeats that ball, and the thick edge goes straight to Moeen Ali at slip. Straight to him but very quick. Dropped. Once again, why not Rahane at slip for spinners?

It is 88 for 3 after nine. Could have easily been 88 for 4. If there is no dew, this pitch could be a nightmare later on.

It is an excellent innings from Devdutt Padikkal played perfectly to the team plans. He batted normally for 30 off 18 in the powerplay, and tried to hit everything after it. He has perished for 38 off 26, but he hasn't eaten up deliveries better suited to batters who are more adept at hitting outside the powerplay. RR 88 for 2 in 8.3 overs.

CSK centre their game on spin, but Ravindra Jadeja and Moeen Ali have both travelled in their first overs. It is trouble for CSK when spin doesn't provide them any control. RR 86 for 1 in eight overs.

The promotion for Devdutt Padikkal has worked. He has raced away to 30 off 18 in the powerplay to take RR to 57 for 1. On first looks, the pitch looks better than what MS Dhoni expected. Now Padikkal's easier job is done. We all know he is good when the field is up. Now is his test: with the field spread and slower bowlers in action.

Really difficult chance as Padikkal looks to late-cut and gets an edge onto Moeen's ankle at slip. However, Moeen has got up way too early, probably trying to intercept the shot, but, yes, Rahane for spin is a great slip fielder.

A Mumbaikar gets a Mumbaikar in an IPL match not featuring Mumbai. Yashasvi Jaiswal is looking to force the pace early as he has been doing, but Tushar Deshpande bowls the perfect length: short of a length but can't be pulled. Also he has to drag this from outside off. Gets a top edge. Gone for 10 off 8. RR 11 for 1 in 1.4 overs.

Devdutt Padikkal is back in the top order. That means captain Sanju Samson drops himself down the order.

MS Dhoni was earlier felicitated for captaining CSK in 200 IPL matches.

Akash Singh made his IPL debut for RR against CSK. His second game now is CSK against RR.

Chennai Super Kings have won the toss and decided to chase at Chepauk primarily because there has been a lot of dew on the two preceding evenings. The pitch is going to be slower than in the first match, but the dew becomes the overriding factor.

Mitchell Santner and Dwaine Pretorious make way for Maheesh Theekshana and Moeen Ali. Leaving out Santner must have been a difficult move. Akash Singh debuts for CSK.

On the RR side, Trent Boult is out with a niggle. CSK openers will be relieved. That is four first-over wickets this IPL.

CSK 1 Devon Conway, 2 Ruturaj Gaikwad, 3 Ajinkya Rahane, 4 Moeen Ali, 5 Shivam Dube, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 MS Dhoni (capt. & wk), 8 Sisanda Magala, 9 Maheesh Theekshana, 10 Tushar Deshpande, 11 Akash Singh

RR 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Jos Buttler, 3 Sanju Samson (capt. & wk), 4 Dhruv Jorel, 5 Shimron Hetmyer, 6 Devdutt Padikkal, 7 Jason Holder, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Yuzvendra Chahal, 10 Sandeep Sharma, 11 Kuldeep Sen.