Xtra Time Web Desk: It was bit of a dull Monday post the entertainment everyone witnessed on Sunday as Rajasthan Royals beat Chennai Super Kings by 7 wickets to return to winning ways in IPL 2020 at Abu Dhabi.
Needing 126 runs to win, RR made a brisk start as Ben Stokes went for his shots. But CSK fought back and picked three wickets in the powerplay. Despite a stunner from MS Dhoni to send back Sanju Samson, Rajasthan Royals bounced back with an unbeaten 98 runs partnership from Captain Steve Smith (26 off 34) and Jos Buttler (70 off 48) to reach home with 15 balls to spare. Buttler was the dominant of the two as he hit 7 fours and two sixes in his knock.
Earlier, CSK could only manage 125/5 with none of the batsmen getting any momentum. Ravindra Jadeja did showed some signs in his 30 ball 35 runs unbeaten knock but that was not enough.
With the win Rajasthan climbed to fifth spot with 8 points while Chennai see them pushed to rock bottom with 6 points from 10 games.
According to winning captain Steve Smith, “The wicket was stoppy, wasn’t easy for batting. Strange game but nice to be on the winning side. Shreyas last two years has been sensational for us and Tewatia this year whether batting, bowling or fielding, has done the job. Buttler’s innings took the pressure off me at the other end. It was a really good innings on a wicket that wasn’t the easiest.”
MS Dhoni, who was playing his 200th IPL match ended up on the losing side. Very rarely did Dhoni find his team in such a position in the history of cash rich league.
“We have to see if the process was wrong. Result is a by-product of the process, but the fact still remains that if you’re focused on the process then the undue pressure of result doesn’t enter the dressing room. We’re trying to address that. You don’t want to do too much chop and change because after 3-4-5 games you won’t be sure of anything. Insecurity is something you don’t want to prevail in the dressing room. It’s fair enough, this season we weren’t there. Maybe we didn’t see as much spark from some of our youngsters. Maybe going forward we bring them in and they play without pressure.”