Chennai Super Kings were in deep trouble at 24 runs for four wickets when MS Dhoni came in to bat against Rajasthan Royals. Ben Stokes had just taken a beauty of a catch, leaping to his left at short mid-wicket to dismiss Kedar Jadhav. Earlier Shane Watson was bowled for no score by Dhawal Kulkarni and Raina was caught ball-watching by a brilliant throw by Jofra Archer from short fine leg which hit the stumps at the non-striker's end. On the last ball of the fourth over, Faf du Plessis holed out to Tripathi at deep midwicket a ball bowled by Unadkat. Chennai Super Kings inning had never taken off and the required run rate for the small target of 152 runs was now 9.14.
Rajasthan Royals, batting first, started their inning with Butler hitting Deepak Chahar for a four and a six. Rahane scored three boundaries with delightful drives before being trapped lbw by Chahar. Shardul Thakur had the last laugh when he had Jos Butler caught at extra cover after being hit for threes successive fours by Jos Butler. Nine balls later, Sanju Samson was caught at deep mid-wicket off the bowling of Mitchell Santner. Rajasthan Royals were now on 53 runs for the loss of three wickets after 5.2 overs.
Steve Smith and Tripathi were left with the task of putting up a good score on the board. But 11 runs later, Tripathi was caught at backward point by Kedar Jadhav off Ravindra Jadeja which brought Ben Stokes to the crease. Ravindra Jadeja was in action again as he claimed the wicket of Steve Smith, caught by Ambati Rayadu at deep mid-wicket. The run rate was dropping all the time for Rajasthan Royals. Ben Stokes put together a partnership of 28 runs for the sixth wicket with Riyan Parag which was the second highest partnership of the inning after the 31 run partnership for the first wicket.
Ben Stokes was bowled by Deepak Chahar in the 19th over after scoring 28 runs, becoming the highest scorer for Rajasthan Royals. Shreyas Gopal, who came in at the fall of Ben Stokes’ wicket, scored 19 runs off just seven balls. He remained not out on with Jofra Archer (13 runs off 12 balls) and Royals finished their inning on 151 runs for the loss of 7 wickets.
MS Dhoni and Ambati Rayadu set about repairing the damage done to the Super Kings inning. They concentrated on rotating the strike and struck the occasional boundary, keeping the required run rate between 9 and 11 runs per over. Ambati Rayadu was out when he top-edged a ball from Ben Stokes and Shreyas Gopal took a good catch running back at square leg. With Ravindra Jadeja for the company, Dhoni needed to score 18 runs off the last over to secure victory for Chennai Super Kings.
Jadeja hit the first ball by Ben Stokes for a six and scored a run off the next no-ball. Dhoni could manage only two runs off the free hit and was yorked by Stokes off the next ball. The first ball that Santner faced was called a no-ball by the Umpire for being above waist height and Santner scored two runs off it. But upon conversing with the square leg Umpire the no-ball call was retracted. Surprisingly, the ever calm Dhoni walked on to the field questioning the umpires retraction of the no-ball call. Dhoni was later fined half his match fee and CSK will be docked ‘Fairplay’ points for captain cool’s actions.
With six runs needed off the last two balls, Santner scored two runs off the penultimate ball. Unbelievably, Stokes bowled the last ball wide leaving CSK with three runs required off one ball. In a dramatic finish to the match, Mitchell Santner hit Ben Stokes high over long-on for a six to win the match for CSK. The reigning champions with six wins from seven matches are sitting comfortably at the top of the table and look certain for a place in the playoffs. Rajasthan Royals, on the other hand, have won just one match out of their six.
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