Our Correspondent
Three-time champions Chennai Super Kings finally had a victory after a string of losses, this time beating Royal Challengers Bangalore by eight wickets in Dubai on October 25 afternoon.
However, it became the first side to get knocked out of the playoffs when Rajasthan Royals won the game against Mumbai and took the sixth position in the points table. It was also the first time in IPL history that CSK, last year’s runners- up, missed out on play-offs.
MS Dhoni’s men in yellow, who had been at the bottom of the table, restricted RCB to 145 for six wickets. Devdutt Padikkal and Aaron Finch fell to Mitchell Santner and Sam Curran respectively after RCB opted to bat first against CSK. An 82-run stand between Virat Kohli (50 off 43 balls) and AB de Villiers (39) was the hallmark of the RCB innings.
Beginning the chase, Faf Du Plessis and Ruturaj Gaikwad added 46 quick runs in the first five overs to give CSK a good start. Gaekwad and Ambati Rayudu (39) added 67 runs for the second wicket. Young Gaekwad, who smashed an unbeaten 65 off 51 deliveries, was the man of the match. Dhoni struck three boundaries before Gaikwad hit a six to steer Chennai to victory (150/2) with eight balls to spare.
CSK made two changes – Santner and fast bowler Monu Singh – in the team and it paid off.
Rajasthan beat Mumbai in Match 45
In the next match of the day in Abu Dhabi, Rajasthan Royals chased down Mumbai Indians’ total of 195 with 10 balls to spare. Man of the match Ben Stokes scored a century (107* in 60 balls) and had an unbeaten third-wicket stand of 152 with Sanju Samson (54 in 31).
The two had taken charge after RR lost Robin Uthappa (13) and Steve Smith (11) in the second and fifth over respectively.
Electing to bat, Mumbai lost Quinton de Kock (6) in the first over. Ishan Kishan (37) and Suryakumar Yadav (40) had an 83-run stand to anchor the innings. After losing them and substitute captain Kieron Pollard (6) in the middle overs, MI was buoyed by Hardik Pandya’s 21-ball 60 (seven sixes, two fours) and Saurabh Tiwary’s (34) to reach 195/5 in 20 overs.
MI skipper Rohit Sharma, nursing a left hamstring injury, missed out again while James Pattinson replaced Nathan Coulter-Nile. With the victory, Rajasthan has a chance of making it to the last four.
For RR, Jorfra Archer (2/31) and Shreyas Gopal (2/30) harvested the wickets.
