Sourav SinhaIPL 2020: Match Day 4: Rajasthan Royals Vs. Chennai Super Kings

23September

IPL 2020: Match Day 4: Rajasthan Royals Vs. Chennai Super Kings

Rajasthan Royals were the surprise winners of the inaugural IPL in 2008. They couldn’t replicate that win again and in fact, have not reached the finals ever since. They beat Chennai Super Kings in 2008 to win the championship and they faced the same opponents at Sharjah yesterday to kick off their 2020 campaign.

Rajasthan Royals plugged a lot of gaps in their lineup in the last 2 years and after the last auction, their first XI had a very balanced look. But with Ben Stokes still to join the team and Jos Butler not available, RR had a problem in their batting.

So how did the match go?

Here are my 5 pointers from yesterday’s match.

1. Sanju Samson’s heroics

Sanju Samson is one player who never got a long rope when it came to establishing himself in the Indian cricket team. His talent as a frontline batsman is enough to get him to the team – that he is an equally efficient wicket-keeper is an additional plus. But unfortunately, he always gets a stop-gap chance when it comes to playing for India. First, it was Dhoni who was irreplaceable then it was Rishabh Pant and now KL Rahul who is standing in between Sanju and a chance to play for India. The number of chances that Pant and Rahul got if it was given to Samson – I am very sure he would have been a permanent fixture in the Indian team by now.

Yesterday Sanju oozed class. His century partnership with Smith where he played the dominant partner was the sole reason why The Royals shot ahead of the opposition. Samson had a great opportunity to score his 3rd IPL century yesterday but he missed his chance. I hope he carries this form right through the tournament because it’s the consistency that’s the selectors are looking for and if he is consistent this year then he will get the ticket to play for India in the next T20 World Cup.

9 sixes along with a strike rate of over 200 made this innings of Sanju Samson memorable not to forget the 2 stumpings and 2 catches that he took behind the wicket.

2. Faf du Plessis – the only saving grace for CSK

Faf is an anchorman. And he plays that role very well in the CSK set up. But when you have to chase above 200 runs then it’s about Bang Bang from the start. But you need someone who can carry the bat through. The chase becomes gettable only when there is another player at the other end who goes slogging consistently. Unfortunately for Chennai that didn’t happen consistently yesterday but Faf kept to his name and ended up with 72 runs at about 200 strike rate. He kept CSK in business till he was there at the crease. That Chennai went so far was only because of Faf who was the second-highest scorer yesterday after Sanju Samson.

3. The story of 2 overs

High scoring matches always mean sorry bowling figures but in Chennai’s case, it was actually about 2 overs. Rajasthan Royals scored 158 in 18 overs but scored 59 runs in 2 overs. One of those overs was in the early part of the match when Piyush Chawla went for 30 runs as Sanju Samson went on a rampage against him. The pitch was such that if you pitched it up then you are inviting the batsmen to slaughter you and that’s exactly what happened. The ground at Sharjah is distinctly smaller than Dubai and Abu Dhabi and so it was very difficult to contain a batsman in form. The other over happened to be the last over when Ngidi went for 29 runs. Actually he was lucky to concede only 29 runs because 25 runs were scored from his first 2 legitimate balls due to No Balls and subsequent free hits. Archer showed why he is such a dangerous player – people can remember him as an out and out fast bowler but many forget that he is more than handy with the bat. The 4 sixes that he hit in the last over made all the difference in the final equation. As you can see, these 2 overs and especially the last one is what made all the difference because Chennai lost by only 16 runs at the end.

4. Sixes galore

Small ground with less grass on the pitch meant that we were in for a run feast. The batsmen didn’t disappoint and we had 33 sixes yesterday which is a record in IPL history. That it was evenly matched by both the teams showed that even a score of 216 could have been chased down if Chennai got a better start. I think Rayudu was sorely missed yesterday!

5. Mahi sends a signal

A match featuring CSK and can you get away without a mention of Dhoni? Definitely not. He came quite late which is something he needs to think on because by the time he came the match was more or less over. Faf helped him to take the match deep but by that time the thinking was to keep the margin of loss at manageable levels considering the Net Run Rate which might come into the picture to determine the top 4. Dhoni went on a rampage in the last over with the first 3 balls going for 3 sixes. And each six was bigger than the previous one. One of the balls crossed the road adjacent to the stadium with a group of people jostling for the ball. Mahi just showed a glimpse of what he is capable of at this ripe age and no opposition captain is going to take him lightly going forward. He might not have played competitive cricket for more than 400 days but it’s all coming back quite quickly. We are in for an exciting IPL.