The action returned in the Indian Premier League on Wednesday, with the Chennai Super Kings hosting the Rajasthan Royals in the Chepauk Stadium in Chennai. While the Super Kings are coming into the match high on confidence after two back-to-back wins against Lucknow Super Giants and Mumbai Indians, the Royals have only won one out of their three games.
The home team won the toss and elected to bowl first, inviting the Royals out to bat. They lost Yashasvi Jaiswal cheaply for a score of 10. However, a partnership brewed between Jos Butler (52 off 36) and Devdutt Padikkal (38 off 26) as the visitors reached 88/2. Handy contributions of 30 in 22 balls by Ravichandran Ashwin and 30 off 18 by Shimron Hetmyer helped the team total to 175/8 in 20 overs.
Sandeep Sharma defended 21 runs in the final over to take RR over the finish line
For Chennai Super Kings, three bowlers returned with two wickets each. Debutant Akash Singh picked up 2/40 in his four overs, while Tushar Pandey conceded three runs less in his four overs. Ravindra Jadeja remained the pick of the bowlers with economical figures of 2/21 in four overs. Lastly, Moeen Ali returned with one scalp from the game.
In reply, CSK kept losing regular wickets, Devon Conway, with 50 off 38 and Ajinkya Rahane, with 31 off 19, remained the stars of the top order. In the end, Jadeja, with 25 off 15 and MS Dhoni, with 31 off 16, tried for one final push. But, they fell short by four runs as Rajasthan wrapped up their third win in the IPL 2023 by three runs. For Rajasthan Royals, Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal returned with two wickets, while Adam Zampa and Sandeep Sharma scalped one each.
Next, in the Indian Premier League 2023, the Punjab Kings will host the defending champions, Gujarat Lions, at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali. Punjab Kings will look to bounce back after their forgettable outing against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, while Gujarat Giants are in a similar situation following their shock defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders after Rinku Singh’s final over heroics.
Here’s how fans reacted:
— UjjWAL (@_ujjW4L_) April 12, 2023
— Khush Thakkar (@Khush_Thakkar12) April 12, 2023
Moeen ali helping csk today be like #CSKvRR pic.twitter.com/rLleWpACOS
— Anurag Dwivedi ? (@AnuragxCricket) April 12, 2023
Jail Clasico ?
Fixers Vs Fixers#CSKvRR #CSKvsRR #IPL pic.twitter.com/a8nizYgObs
— DIPTANU ? (@Diptanubiswas19) April 12, 2023
Sanju Samson to BCCI pic.twitter.com/oVdP0bvs1g
— ???????? (@Swapnil113goat) April 12, 2023
— An$hu (@haramii_balak12) April 12, 2023
— Siyaaaa! (@RandhwaSaloni) April 12, 2023
— SaravananTweets (@Saravanantweetz) April 12, 2023
