IPL SRL | CSK vs RR Evaluation Chart - Jos Buttler blitzkrieg smothers Chennai in one-sided affair

BySritama Panda, SportsCafe Editor

06/10/2020

Rajasthan Royals walked into the game against Chennai Super Kings with a defeat against KKR in the recent IPL SRL encounter, but they turned their fate around as Jos Buttler left CSK in tatters. While Rajasthan’s bowling unit looked in good touch, CSK bowlers had a bad day at the field.

Match Review

After winning the toss, Rajasthan Royals asked Chennai Super Kings to bat first and the opening partnership between Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis was broken in the fourth over as the former fell prey to Jaydev Unadkat. Going ahead, the South African batsman added 37 runs off 31 balls and MS Dhoni, down the order, added an accelerating 29-ball 44. Shreyas Gopal and Unadkat provided maximum resistance from the Rajasthan bowling attack. With another power-hitting contribution by Ravindra Jadeja (38 off 25), Chennai managed a total of 166/8 at the end of 20 overs.

Chasing a target of 167, Rajasthan openers batting looked extremely confident with both Robin Uthappa and Jos Buttler taking charge right from the start. While Deepak Chahar started off the 1st over conceding just three runs, soon the spell was broken as Shardul Thakur was battered by Uthappa in the following over. Together they added 75 runs in the first-wicket partnership and Buttler went on to remain unbeaten on 95 off 49 and with some help from Sanju Samson’s undefeated 17-ball 36, RR sealed an easy win in the 15th over.

You can check out the scorecard and Match Tracker here.

Turning Point

According to me, the turning point of the game was when Chennai Super Kings lost Faf du Plessis’ wicket in the 11th over. After a rather slow and shaky start, CSK were recovering with the partnership between Faf and the skipper, taking the team to 81/3 at 10.5 overs. But Shreyas Gopal, who was in top form at work today, removed the South African veteran and put an end to a promising partnership after which Chennai’s innings went downhill.

Highs and Lows

To me, the high of the game was Jos Buttler’s invincible form in today’s batting albeit away from home. His confident approach made the target looked way smaller than it actually was. No bowler, absolutely no bowler, could contain Buttler’s Blitzkrieg, that including 12 boundaries and four sixes, as he remained unbeaten on 95 off 49 as Rajasthan won the game without any trouble.

The low of this game, according to me, was Chennai’s bowling performance. The team that has a strong unit of spinners was plastered by Buttler and his partners leaving them no chance to create pressure in the chase. It was, in fact, one of the rare dismal shows by CSK’s bowling unit.

Rating Charts

Powerplay exploitation: - CSK (9/10) and RR (10/10)

The Chennai Super Kings openers were nowhere close to the top of their game as they usually are, especially Shane Watson, who was dismissed in the fourth over by Unadkat as the Aussie veteran only managed 7 off 10. Moving ahead, Raina and du Plessis added some runs in the Powerplay to help Chennai recover from Watson’s early dismissal. At the end of the first six overs, CSK were on 41/1 after squeezing out 10 runs off Ankit Rajpoot’s over.

Meanwhile, the Rajasthan side looked far more poised in the chase of 167 runs as both openers took charge and no bowler seemed to contain them to any extent. Chahar did start off with a good first over but ever since that big runs came off almost every over in the Powerplay and not just Chahar but Thakur were also battered well. At the end of the Powerplay, Rajasthan Royals were standing tall on 64 for no loss with Buttler (39* off 21) on top of his game.

Middle overs:- CSK (7/10) and RR (10/10)

The Chennai Super Kings batsmen accumulated a total of 70 runs for the loss of four wickets between overs 7 and 15 and the credit was mostly into the account of du Plessis and MS Dhoni. They fought well against almost every bowler they faced, except Gopal and Unadkat who seemed to be having a good time on the field today. After du Plessis, Dhoni and Jadeja formed a rather accelerating partnership making recovery for the slow scoring. At the end of the 15th over, the scoreboard read 111/3 with Raina and Dhoni in the middle.

On the other hand, following an explosive start, the visiting side continued to smother the Chennai bowlers sparing no one. Despite Uthappa’s dismissal in the 8th over, by Imran Tahir, Buttler made sure it’s Rajasthan’s day and with significant help from Sanju Samson, they were able to bring up the 100 for the team at the start of the 11th over. Following that, it was an easy sail for the two batsmen and they recorded an unbeaten second-wicket partnership of 92 runs to see Rajasthan to a nine-wicket victory, with 33 balls remaining, in the 15th over.

Death Bowling: - RR (6/10) and CSK (N/A)

The bowlers, especially the spinners, had done a good job in containing the runs in the middle overs leaving Chennai on 111/5 at the end of 15 overs. However, with dhoni and Jadeja in the middle, CSK were able to add some essential runs vis quick scoring in the death overs. There was one big over wherein Jadeja squeezed out 17 runs off Tom Curran. And despite Dhoni’s dismissal in the 19th over, bowled by Rajpoot, Chennai added 19 runs. Overall, 55 runs were added in the final five overs while Chennai also lost three wickets.

On the other hand, CSK bowlers didn’t have to see the death overs at all as the contest was over in the 15th over with Rajasthan sealing a 9-wicket victory.

Match Frenzy O Meter - Good

While the end result of the game gave away how one-sided the contest was favouring the Rajasthan Royals. However, Jos Buttler smashed 12 fours and 4 sixes to transform the game to a great show of T20 batting. The game ended with 5.3 overs remaining and at no point did it become a boring game to watch.