An unbeaten 76 from Ajinkya Rahane made light work of a below-par batting effort from the Chennai Super Kings to give the Rajasthan Royals victory in the battle of the IPL’s two unbeaten sides. The game was far from close, with Rahane and the returning Royals captain, Shane Watson, putting on the franchise’s record opening stand of 144, carving off a vast chunk of CSK’s 156.
Despite being fancied as heavy favourites for this tie in Ahmedabad, where temperatures were in excess of 43C, tight bowling and some fine fielding saw the visitors reduced to 39 for three inside seven overs, with Brendon McCullum, Suresh Raina and Faf du Plessis registering only 17 between them.
Were it not for the West Indian pair of Dwayne Smith (40) and Dwayne Bravo, who top-scored with an excellent 62 from 36 balls, 150 would not have been breached. Even with the CSK captain, MS Dhoni, facing 37 balls, calculated bowling changes from Watson and good execution from Chris Morris in the last over, ensured the rate required was under eight an over.
Despite CSK’s varied attack, Rahane and Watson grew into their innings, almost going shot for shot throughout their 16.1 over partnership. Watson eventually fell to Ravi Jadeja, but his hand of 73 from 47 balls, which included 10 boundaries, including four sixes, had all but guaranteed Rajasthan’s 100% record.
