Abu Dhabi: Jos Buttler and Steve Smith starred along with bowlers as Rajasthan Royals thrashed Chennai Super Kings by 7 wickets in the 37th match of the IPL 2020 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, here on Monday.
With this win, Rajasthan kept their hopes of qualifying into playoffs alive with 4th win of the IPL 2020 season.
Chennai Super Kings' decision to bat first backfired as the team could only manage a paltry 125/5 after 20 overs. Ravindra Jadeja (35), was the top scorer for CSK followed by MS Dhoni (28) and Sam Curran (22).
Chasing a small target for the victory, RR were off to a bad start. They lost the wickets of Ben Stokes (19), Robin Uthappa (4), Sanju Samson (0) in the powerplay with 31 runs on the board.
After a Shaky start, Jos Buttler and Steve Smith stood rock solid and joined hands for a good 4th wicket partnership. They added 98 runs from 78 deliveries to guide Rajasthan Royals to an impressive 7-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings.
Buttler remained unbeaten on 70 from 40 balls, while the Smith finished with 26 from 34 deliveries. The team completed the 126-run chase in just 17.3 overs against MS?Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings.
Earlier, CSK were off to a bad start as they lost the in-form Faf du Plessis (10) in the third over. An over later, Shane Watson was sent back by Kartik.
Sam Curran, who opened the batting again made 22 off 25 balls before being dismissed by Gopal.Ambati Rayudu also got out in the next over off Tewatia's bowling as CSK slumped to 56 for four.
Dhoni and Jadeja tried their best to bring CSK back to the game. They added 51 runs for the fifth wicket but failed to up the ante. Dhoni was run out in the 18th over while Kedar Jadhav continued to struggle with the bat in the tournament.
Among the Rajasthan bowlers, it was Shreyas Gopal 1/14, Rahul Tewatia 1/18 and Jofra Archer 1/20 who did the main damage. (UNI)
