Brendon McCullum’s 81 helped Chennai Super Kings to 157 for five and a 12-run win over the Rajasthan Royals that takes them to the top of the 2015 Indian Premier League table.
The Royals went into the game with Steve Smith as their captain, replacing his fellow Australian Shane Watson in the role, although the latter retained his place in the side, but came up short with nine wickets down.
Chennai suffered a stuttering start to their innings, losing Dwayne Smith and Suresh Raina to poor shots, both men offering easy catches to James Faulkner. It was left to McCullum to anchor their knock, which he did but not in the manner expected of the big-hitting New Zealander. McCullum scored 81 from 61 balls but seemed to be struggling with illness or fatigue at various stages in his innings, to the point that it looked as if he was swinging hard not to score quick runs so much as to avoid having to run.
He put on 101 with Faf du Plessis to which he contributed the lion’s share before the South African was run out after a mix-up between the two when McCullum’s attempted ramp shot dribbled in front of the batsman and Watson threw down the stumps.
MS Dhoni and Dwayne Bravo contributed useful runs at the end of the innings after two wickets in two balls from Chris Morris finally dismissed McCullum, then Pawan Negi.
The Royals started solidly, with Watson and Ajinkya Rahane putting on 37 for the first wicket, but after the latter was dismissed for 23 by one of three catches by Bravo, the rest of the innings never really got going.
Some fine bowling combined with some indifferent fielding – three simple chances were dropped by assorted fielders – gave the contest an illusion of closeness but Chennai always looked in control.
Ravi Jadeja recorded outstanding figures of 4-0-11-4, two of his wickets coming courtesy of brilliant catches by Bravo. The first, to dismiss Watson for 28, came as the Australian launched the ball down the ground and it was heading for a six before Bravo ran round, stuck a hand up and plucked the ball from the air.
Bravo then repeated the feat to get rid of Faulkner for 16, this time slightly closer to the bat but no less impressive. Bravo threw in a bad drop off his own bowling, grassing a chance from Sanju Samson, who would eventually be caught by Dwayne Smith on the boundary for 26.
The win puts Chennai on top of the points table, edging ahead of the Kolkata Knight Riders, and all but guarantees them a place in the next phase.
