Two very important points for the Chennai Super Kings as they have beaten the Rajasthan Royals, who have now lost three matches in a row.
Ravindra Jadeja was seen changing his path while watching the ball and hence was given out for obstructing the field as Sanju Samson got his appeal responded positively by the umpires.
Shivam Dube hit a six and a couple of fours as he single-handedly killed the game. It felt like only Dube could have gotten himself out as he was itching to go all out against one bowler and R Ashwin had the last laugh.
Nandre Burger was brought into the side to play the Simarjeet-esque role for RR and gotten the wicket of Moeen Ali, who was itching to hit out of trouble.
Yuzvendra Chahal bowled the line of the stumps and got the breakthrough with the one that kept straight as he got the big one for his side in the form of Daryl Mitchell.
Chennai Super Kings are running away with the game rather quickly as Daryl Mitchell followed in his fellow Kiwi Ravindra's footsteps and scored rather quickly and got a few runs amid field restrictions.
R Ashwin got into some nice wicket-taking form in the last game against the Delhi Capitals, dismissing three batters and has now provided the breakthrough to his side after CSK got off to a rapid start. Rachin Ravindra wanted to hit Ashwin out of the ground but mistimed and handed a straight catch back to the bowler.
Riyan Parag with a six in the final over has helped the Rajasthan Royals cross the 140 mark but it still might not be enough. It wasn't a 180 track but RR would have liked to get to 160 but slow scoring rate and growing frustration meant they didn't get the acceleration they were looking for and eventually have to settle with 141.
Tushar Deshpande has sent back dangerous Dhruv Jurel and got the left-hander Shubham Dubey on the very next delivery to further peg the Royals' back, whose innings went nowhere basically.
Dhruv Jurel and Riyan Parag do get a few boundaries here or there but the scoring rate remains below par as the Chennai Super Kings have strangulated the scoring using the conditions to their advantage.
Sanju Samson may have notched up his best season in the IPL yet in terms of the number of runs scored, however, he didn't look in any comfort during his stay at the crease. He was finding fielders regularly and the frustration was building, only for him to hand a simple catch to the mid-off fielder.
Maheesh Theekshana had to move a bit to his left as Riyan Parag timed his reverse sweep well, rather too well and the CSK spinner had the opportunity to take it. One, two and three chances and he spilled it.
Simarjeet Singh is reaping rewards for the work done by Tushar Deshpande and Shardul Thakur in the earlier overs as Jos Buttler was frustrated by the slow start visible and decided to lap but there was a fine-leg in place and it was straight into his hands.
Yashasvi Jaiswal wanted to accelerate and felt like something had to give after a middling powerplay and the left-hander went after Simarjeet Singh's rising delivery and got a top edge only to see Ruturaj Gaikwad from short cover run to grab it beside the pitch.
After understanding the pace of the pitch and getting their eyes in both Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler have started going for their shots a bit. Just 14 runs in the first three overs were followed by 28 in the last three as the Royals got 42 runs off the powerplay but most importantly, didn't lose a wicket.
And the game is underway. Two RR openers - Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal are out in the middle. Tushar Deshpande has the new ball in hand and will begin the proceedings for CSK.
Rajasthan Royals: Rovman Powell, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Nandre Burger, Tanush Kotian, Keshav Maharaj
Chennai Super Kings: Ajinkya Rahane, Sameer Rizvi, Prashant Solanki, Ajay Mandal, Mukesh Choudhary
Playing XI: Rachin Ravindra, Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Daryl Mitchell, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni(w), Shardul Thakur, Tushar Deshpande, Simarjeet Singh, Maheesh Theekshana
Playing XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson(w/c), Riyan Parag, Shubham Dubey, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Yuzvendra Chahal
Rajasthan Royals have opted to bat first after winning the toss saying that the wicket looked good and wanted to put some runs on the board. CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad was a bit confused as to what to do and said that would want to bowl well.
66m and 70m square boundaries on either side as the pitch is being used for the third time in the season. The average score has been 183 on the track but with it being a day game and heat making the wicket dry, it could slow down later on and the captain winning the toss would want to bat first and set a score.
If Jos Buttler doesn't, Sanju Samson will, if Samson doesn't, Buttler will if both don't fire Yashasvi Jaiswal in a couple of games has fired. If all three don't Riyan Parag does the job. But if all four depart for insignificant scores, the middle order hasn't been dependable enough for RR to give them the belief that they could win from such a situation. Remarkably, one of those four have stayed till the end on most times to get their team over the likes and if they haven't, the likes of Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer and Rovman Powell have left a lot to be desired. That's one area, RR would want to tighten ahead of the playoffs.
Skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad has been inconsistent while Ajinkya Rahane and Rachin Ravindra haven't turned. CSK have found themselves two down most times in the season so far and even though Daryl Mitchell and Moeen Ali have picked up their form, the Men in Yellow require a lot more from their top order to be in the running to turn tables against the Royals.
If Chennai Super Kings lose on Sunday, not only their chances to qualify for the playoffs will hang by a very slim thread and could be the legend MS Dhoni's final game in the IPL since he said that he will finish in Chennai in the cash-rich league. Will the Men in Yellow be able to extend Dhoni's IPL career or the Rajasthan Royals regain form? Welcome to our live coverage of the CSK vs RR match from the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
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