CSK vs RR | Chennai Super Kings keep destiny in their own hands with five-wicket win over Rajasthan

With perhaps the driest deck of the campaign on offer under the scorching Chennai sun amidst high humidity, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler took their time to get off the blocks with just 14 runs coming off the first three overs. A few boundaries thereafter took the score to 42/0 at the end of the powerplay before Simarjeet Singh got rid of the duo in successive overs to leave the visitors reeling at 61/2 at the halfway stage. Sanju Samson and Riyan Parag encountered similar struggles but scraped together a 42-run stand with occasional boundary. However, Simarjeet returned for a second spell in the 15th over and immediately got rid of the skipper for a less-than-run-a-ball 15, thus bringing Dhruv Jurel to the crease. Unlike his predecessors, the young wicket-keeper adopted a no-holds-barred approach and struck two juicy maximums in his rapid 18-ball 28 as part of a momentum-injecting 40-run partnership. Eventually, Parag stayed till the end and muscled a crucial six after Tushar Deshpande struck twice in the final over to take the team total to a competitive 141/5.

In response, Rachin Ravindra rediscovered his explosive form from the start of the season and had already rattled off 27 rapid runs when Ravichandran Ashwin scalped him in the fourth over. Daryl Mitchell picked up exactly where his compatriot left and added another 22 runs off just 13 balls to leave the score reading a healthy 67/2 after eight overs. Moeen Ali was not able to replicate his teammates' antics and holed out cheaply to offer Rajasthan a glimpse at a comeback which was quickly shut down by a 15-run onslaught by Shivam Dube against Ashwin in the 14th over albeit it ended with his wicket. Meanwhile, Ruturaj Gaikwad kept anchoring the innings along from the other end and despite CSK losing Ravindra Jadeja in a freak obstructing the field incident, impact substitute Sameer Rizvi sealed the victory with consecutive boundaries in the 19th over.

Not every team is SRH to let Jadeja get away with obstructing field. 



pic.twitter.com/IO9J4UyVxe

— Rampy (@RiserTweex) May 12, 2024

LOL!

Fruad Jadeja wantedly obstructed the field 

Please ban this #Fixing team they are killing this sport 💔



#CSKvRR pic.twitter.com/j01fWC1Zpv

— 𝘿  (@DilipVK18) May 12, 2024

Fair enough!

Jadeja has been given obstructing the field. Great twist in Jay shah script.#CSKvsRR #fixing #jadeja pic.twitter.com/LHPDZIKLIp

— Ashutosh Srivastava 🇮🇳 (@sri_ashutosh08) May 12, 2024

May be!

Let's all laugh at fraud jadeja 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 #RRvCSK pic.twitter.com/3s49i90Yvm

— Mʀ.Exᴘɪʀʏ (@Bloody_Expiry) May 12, 2024