Led by Simarjeet Singh‘s three wicket haul and Ruturaj Gaikwad’s unbeaten 42 off 41, along with handy contributions from the rest of the batters, Chennai Super Kings registered a crucial victory against Rajasthan Royals at Chepauk on Sunday (May 12). Having restricted the Royals to 141/5, CSK reached the target in the penultimate over to climb to the third position on the points table.
Simarjeet Singh kept getting wickets every time Royals tried to push back. Royals never really succeeded in mounting an attack, which CSK’s New Zealand batters, Rachin Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell, successfully did to put their chase on course with a Shivam Dube putting them on top. The slow pitch was right up the home bowlers’ alley, and they kept Royals quiet in a wicketless powerplay . Simarjeet Singh with 3 wickets was a wrecker in chief for CSK .
Pitch and Toss
“It’s hot, very hot at Chepauk. Temperature around 37 but feels like 47. The boundaries, 66m and 70m square and those aren’t too small, 79 is the straight hit. It’s a day game so you got to read the pitch well. Avg score here is 183”, says Pommie Mbangwa. Daren Ganga comes in for more, “What will be critical firstly is the water content in this surface and that will determine how tricky this pitch is. There is no grass covering, it’s bare. The curator told me that it’s normal water content.
Now the challenge really is how does he preserve that water content where it remains good for batting first and remains good for batting throughout the course of the game. It’s hot, so there is going to be that drying out. Maybe if there is a little bit of moisture it will be tacky, sticky, bit of a challenge for the team batting first. There will be a bit of turn because historically we have seen six matches this season and the average turn for the spinners is 2.1 – above the average we have seen in the tournament so expect spin to play a part.
Average as Pommie said is 183 but for day games it is usually a bit lower. But Chennai, playing on this pitch No. 6 they have played twice batted first and scored over 200 runs and those were night games. Batting first teams will be looking for a score around there.”
Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson won the toss and chose to bat first. Chennai Super Kings skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad bowling first made one change to squad bringing in Maheesh Theekshana for Mitchell Santner.
CSK keep openers in check in the wicketless powerplay
The first two overs went rather quietly, with Tushar Deshpande and Maheesh Theekshana keeping the RR openers in check and not conceding any boundary. Deshpande had figures of 0 for 10 from his first two overs despite being hit for a four by Jos Buttler in his second over.
Yashaswi Jaiswal struck a six and a four off Theekshana while Shardul Thakur was hit was two fours by the left-hander, who tried to get a move on after a slow start. But on a sticky surface, CSK’s bowlers did well to use that to their advantage, with Jaiswal and Buttler managing to strike at only 126.31 and 105.88 respectively in the powerplay.
These are the two slowest teams in the first two overs of the IPL. They like to suss the pitch out before they start attacking. Royals stayed true to form, scoring just seven off the first two, but they couldn’t kick on even after that with Tushar Deshpande, Maheesh Theekshana and Shardul Thakur giving them nothing to drive. Their 42 for 0 was the slowest wicketless powerplay of IPL 2024, one run behind their 43 for 0 against Punjab Kings, but that came in a small chase.
Simarjeet Singh strikes hurt RR in the middle overs
The powerplay lull translated into wickets early in the middle overs with Jaiswal mistiming a pull off Simarjeet Singh, and the bowler went on to dismiss Buttler who miscued a scoop to fine leg. Riyan Parag pulled one past the ropes off Simarjeet Singh but the run-rate was kept in check as RR could only manage 61 in the first 10 overs.
Ravindra Jadeja was unlucky not to pick up the wicket of Parag, who didn’t connect a reverse sweep properly, as Theekshana put down the catch in the deep. Theekshana finished his spell with frugal figures of 0 for 28 while Jadeja ended with 0 for 24 despite being slog-swept for a six by Parag in his final over. Samson, who was struggling to pierce the field, eventually fell to Simarjeet for a 19-ball 15, handing a catch to mid-off.
Usually CSK go to Ravindra Jadeja in the seventh over, but perhaps because of the right-left combination, which didn’t let their orthodox spinners bowl in their last match against Gujarat Titans, they bowled Simarjeet Singh in the seventh over. Playing only his third match this year, Simarjeet Singh had ground to make up after going for 60 in that Titans match.
On this slow pitch, he was immediately on target: hard lengths and no room. When Yashaswi Jaiswal tried to take him on, the ball got big on him and resulted in a skier to cover. In his next over, Simarjeet Singh became the beneficiary of an odd shot from a frustrated Buttler: a ramp on a slow pitch with fine leg back on the fence.
With Royals’ only left-hand top-order batter gone, Jadeja rattled through his four overs for just 24 runs to go with Theekshana’s four overs for 28. Sanju Samson just kept looking for singles while Riyan Parag tried the odd boundary. It seemed as if Royals had decided they needed to get somewhere around 160 and not aim too high.
CSK restrict RR to 141 despite Dhruv Jurel cameo
Even to get to 160, they would need two a ball for the last six overs after getting to 89 for 2 in 14 overs, which is when the spinners bowled out. Royals were banking on cashing in on pace, but just when they tried to go hard they handed Simarjeet Singh another wicket: Samson caught at mid-off. Again Royals were pushed back.
Deshpande and Thakur stuck to their plans in the death overs, and Royals never got the big overs. Only Parag’s 47 off 35 took them to 141, which was 23 less than the lowest total successfully defended in this IPL. Royals attacked just 30 balls in their innings, the sixth-lowest figure this season in non-all-out innings when setting a target.
Dhruv Jurel, back in the RR eleven, hit a six over deep midwicket off Thakur to help RR past 100 in the 16th over. He struck a four off Simarjeet Singh, the first four after 10 overs, and Parag also managed a boundary to give RR a much-needed lift. Simarjeet Singh, nevertheless, finished with excellent figures of 3 for 26.
Jurel’s second six came off a full toss from Deshpande and Parag got a reprieve soon after, put down by Sameer Rizvi off Thakur, but the bowler did a tidy job as he conceded only 7 runs in the 19th over. Deshpande accounted for Jurel (28 off 18) and Shubham Dubey off successive deliveries before Parag ended the innings with a slap over the offside for a six in a 10-run final over.
Kiwis power CSK’s positive start
Trent Boult started with an economical over, giving away only four runs but Rachin Ravindra played a pick-up shot off Sandeep Sharma for a six to get the chase going. It got even better as he flicked and guided Boult for a four and a six in a 12-run third over. But Ravindra’s breezy innings came to an end soon after R Ashwin came into the attack, getting a top edge off an attempted slog sweep.
But Daryl Mitchell ensured a good finish to the powerplay, striking two fours each off Sandeep and Ashwin as CSK finished with 14 more than what RR managed in their first six overs.
CSK have been the only team slower than Royals in the early goings but they were mindful of not letting the bowlers settle into their defence. Ravindra flicked Sandeep Sharma for a six over midwicket in the second over, and went after compatriot Trent Boult in the third. Even though R Ashwin got Ravindra out in the fourth, Mitchell kept up the intent. Their 56 for 1 was their fourth-highest powerplay of this IPL.
RR strike regularly but CSK on track in middle overs
Gaikwad, who had faced only eight deliveries for six runs in the powerplay, got into the act with a pull off Nandre Burger which went for a six. But a 35-run stand came to an end in the next over, with Mitchell getting trapped leg-before to Yuzvendra Chahal and also costing CSK a review. Without the pressure of a high required rate, Gaikwad and Moeen Ali were happy to rotate the strike and keep CSK motoring along. But their association came to an end when Moeen tried to clear the cover boundary off Burger but found the fielder in the deep.
Shivam Dube then struck a six and two fours off Ashwin but the experienced offspinner had the last laugh as he had the batter caught at long-on to become the first to bag fifty IPL wickets in Chennai and ended with figures of 2 for 35. Gaikwad struck a four off Chahal, who finished with 1 for 22, but CSK were in command, having brought it down to 26 off 30.
Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sameer Rizvi help CSK over the line in the crucial match
Jadeja was given out obstructing the field with the third umpire opining that the batter deliberately changed direction to come in the way of Samson’s throw at the non-striker’s end. But there wasn’t too much pressure on CSK with the required rate well in control. Impact sub Rizvi’s four off Sandeep in the 17th over and Gaikwad’s six off Burger got CSK within five runs of the target, with two overs still to go. Rizvi finished it off with successive fours off Boult as CSK won with 10 deliveries to spare.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Sanju Samson the loosing skipper said:
“I think after the powerplay the message was slow and two paced. Hence after the powerplay the score we were expecting was 170, we were short 20-25 runs. Simarjeet bowled really well. We are not really sure what to expect from away games,”
“We thought batting first was the better option. They had a better idea of what to chase being used to playing here, we thought it would have been slower in the second innings, but the wicket was instead better,” he added.
“When you play at night chasing is a no-brainer due to the dew. The pitch gets heated up during summers so I expected the wicket to slow down in the second innings. It’s normal to keep on thinking about qualification, need to focus on what is under our control. I would like to tell my team-mates, need to focus on things that are in our hand. Need to focus on the process and hope to win the next game,” he concluded.
Ruturaj Gaikwad the winning skipper said :
“Wonderful feeling, especially winning the final game of the league stage. We were cruising after the powerplay but we let the opposition in with wickets. But we had the kind of batters to finish the job and didn’t take pressure. We would like to play on such pitches where it will keep our bowlers in the game, the spinners as well,”
“Bowling into the wicket is the plan usually here when it’s slow. But sometimes it flattens out and the yorker and the use of two short balls becomes important. But slow pace off is a good ploy here,” he added.
Simarjeet Singh Player of the Match for his 3 wickets in the match said :
“I’m very thankful to the CSK management, physio and the trainer. They treated me so well when I was injured the whole year. We saw how the pitch played. The captain and me had a chat and decided bowling into the wicket was the right thing to do,”
A convincing win for CSK in the end. Seems like RR were caught in state of not knowing what’s the right approach with the bat for a good part of their batting innings. Surely not a 141 pitch and they left at least 25-30 runs. This was a 170 pitch. Evident with the fact how CSK were able to score in the powerplay. With the target being small, Rachin and Mitchell had clear roles of aggressors, while Ruturaj donned the anchor’s role.
Both the Kiwis did their job to great effect as they counterattacked most of the RR bowlers. Ashwin got rid of Rachin, while Chahal took care of Mitchell. Moeen came on and nudged around but it was Dube who took Ashwin on to drop the asking rate before being dismissed. The game had an interesting moment with Jadeja being adjudged obstructing the field but CSK had this chase under control and they improved their NRR slightly. Those decimals could have been even better with a slightly earlier finish.
CSK have a five-day break before their final league game against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the M Chinnaswamy stadium on May 18. RR have a shorter turnaround as they travel to Guwahati for their last two matches, both home games, with their next face-off against Punjab Kings on May 15.