CRICKET – RAJASTHAN Royals finished their Indian Premier League season with a six-wicket victory against Chennai Super Kings after finally chasing down the target in their last league game yesterday.
Rajasthan, who failed to complete the chase in eight of their nine games this season, relied on Vaibhav Suryavanshi’s half century to reach 188-4 with 17 balls to spare.
Fast bowler Akash Madhwal (3-29) was effective with his reverse swing in the final overs to restrict Chennai to 187-8 and allow Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team to add only 17 runs in the last three overs.
The win lifted Rajasthan from the bottom of the table with eight points and Chennai now need a huge win against table-topper Gujarat Titans in their final league match to avoid finishing last for the first time in their IPL history.
Yashasvi Jaiswal smacked five boundaries and two sixes in his brisk 36 off 19 balls as Suryavanshi was initially a mere spectator at the other end in the run-chase.
But Suryavanshi took the charge once Jaiswal was bowled by Anshul Kamboj in the fourth over as he smashed Noor Ahmad for 6-4-4 in his first over and also hit sixes against Ravindra Jadeja’s left-arm spin.
Together with captain Sanju Samson, Suryavanshi added a match-winning 98-run stand before Ashwin struck twice in the 14th over and dismissed both batters.
Ahmad clean bowled Riyan Parag for three, but Dhurv Jurel hit an unbeaten 31 off 12 balls, including three sixes and two fours, and Shimron Hetmyer made 12 not out to ensure Rajasthan reached the target with nearly three overs to spare.
Yudhvir Singh picked up three early wickets, including the key wicket of Devon Conway off his fourth ball when the left-handed New Zealander was caught at mid-off as Chennai slipped to 78-5 in the eighth over.
Ayush Mhatre (43) played risk-free shots and hit eight boundaries as he combined in a 56-run run stand with Ravichandran Ashwin (13). Dewald Brevis smashed three sixes and two fours in his quickfire 42 off 25 balls and together with Shivam Dube added a further 59 runs for the sixth wicket. But Madhwal clean bowled Brevis with a delivery that tailed back into the batter and knocked back the stumps in the 14th over.
Dube dominated the spinners and kept Chennai in the hunt for a 200-run total up until the 17th over. But Madhwal and Tushar Deshpande hit the right lengths in the last three overs as Madhwal claimed the wickets of Dube and Dhoni in the last over.
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