NEW DELHI:
Chennai Super Kings cruised to a comprehensive 64-run victory over
Rajasthan Royals at their new home in Pune and jumped to top of the Indian Premier League standings on Friday.
Scorecard | As it happenedThe third victory in four games helped CSK leapfrogged Kolkata Knight Riders, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kings XI Punjab in the table - all have equal six points - with better net run-rates. Royals remained at fifth with four points from five games.
IPL 2018 Points Table CSK posted 204/5 after sent in to bat as
Shane Watson (106) scored his third IPL hundred against his old team. And the bowlers clicked in unison to bowl out Royals for 140 in 18.3 overs. Six bowlers were among the wickets for CSK, with Dwayne Bravo (2/16), Karn Sharma (2/13), Shardul Thakur (2/18) and Deepak Chahar (2/30) sharing eight wickets while Shane Watson and Imran Tahir chipped in with a wicket each.
Royals found themselves in trouble early in their run chase as they lost three wickets in first five overs. Heinrich Klaasen (7), who was making his IPL debut, was the first to go as he was clean bowled by Shardul Thakur in the second over.
In the third over, Sanju Samsom found Karn at deep backward square leg off Chahar as Royals were reduced to 25/2 in three overs. Their misery increased manifold when skipper
Ajinkya Rahane became Chahar's second victim in the fifth over. Rahane was clean bowled after scoring 16 off 11, which included a six and a four, as Royals were struggling at 32/3 in 4.3 overs.
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Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler tried to revive the run chase but the boundaries dried up for the visitors, in fact no boundary was scored during the period of 3-7 overs. Buttler broke the drought by hitting a four and a six off Imran Tahir in the eighth over.
The two English batsmen slowly rebuilt the chase as they added 45 runs for the fourth wicket and took Royals to 77/3 after 10 overs. But the introduction of Bravo ended the stand as the West Indian dismissed Buttler (22 off 17 balls) with his first ball in the 11th over. The resistance crumbled with the Buttler wicket as Royals lost next six wickets for 63 runs in 8.2 overs.
Stokes too did not last long and was caught at the mid-wicket boundary off Tahir in the 14th over. He scored 45 off 37 balls with the help of a six and three fours.
Earlier, seasoned all-rounder Watson propelled CSK to 204/5 with a quick hundred. Playing first match at their new home venue, CSK were shepherded by the 36-year-old Australian, who hammered 106 from 57 balls, making full use of a dropped chance in the very first over on a flat track.
Watson shared a 50-run stand with fellow opener Ambati Rayudu (12) and then raised a 81-run partnership for the second wicket with comeback-man Suresh Raina, who hit a fiery 46 off 29 balls with nine boundaries.
Watson was in regal touch as the Australian pummelled Royals bowlers and smacked nine fours and six sixes in his entertaining knock.
CSK could have post a lot more but for leg-spinner
Shreyas Gopal, who stopped the run flow during the middle overs (11-16), as he accounted for three batsmen in quick succession and conceded just 20 runs in his four overs.
Royals' captain Rahane used five different bowlers in first five bowlers and it was Australian Ben Laughlin who got the first success as he removed Rayudu in the fifth. However, already 50 runs were on the board by then.
In came Raina and the left-hander creamed off four consecutive boundaries off Stokes in the next over as CSK reached 69/1 after six Powerplay overs. And at the half-way mark, CSK were 107/1.
In no time, Watson was approaching his hundred and Raina, a half-century, but Gopal brought relief for Royals by getting the latter caught in deep by Gowtham. Gopal did a great job for his side as he stopped run flow by dismissing CSK captain
MS Dhoni (5) and Sam Billings (3) in his successive overs.
Watson completed his century in the 18th over and was out on penultimate ball of the innings.
Brief Scores: Chennai Super Kings 204/5 (Shane Watson 106; Shreyas Gopal 3/20) beat Rajasthan Royals 140 all-out (Ben Stokes 45; Karn Sharma 2/13) by 64 runs