Wake up call for CSK

CSK opener Ruturaj Gaikwad’s blistering 101 (not out) went in vain as underdogs Rajasthan Royals (RR) prevailed over CSK beating the top-ranked side by 7 wickets on the second of the double-header held at Abh Dhabi today (Saturday). For RR, opener Yashasvi Jaiswal (50 off 21 balls) and No.3 Shivam Dube (64 n.o. off 42 balls) played key roles in the stiff chase.

CSK’s openers continue to impress

Samson called correctly at the toss and inserted CSK to bat first. Ruturaj and du Plessis, the leading opening combination of the tournament thus far, carried on their form, albeit slowly as CSK could cross its 50 runs only in the 8th over. The opening combo added 47 for the first wicket before du Plessis perished to spinner Tewatia, who castled an out-of-sorts Raina in his next over. He also cleaned up Moeen Ali to leave CSK struggling at 114/3 in 14.3 overs.

Ruturaj, Jadeja hit at will in the final overs

Rayudu fell cheap for 2 and MS Dhoni, who hit a booming six against SRH to close the last match, promoted Jadeja up the order sensing that 5.3 more overs were to be bowled. Rutura, the right-hander and Jadeja, the left-handed launched a calculated late assault on RR’s bowlers to rake up an unbelievable 56 runs in just 3.4 overs.

Ruturaj dazzles, hits his first century in IPL

Continuing his rich vein of form, Ruturaj Gaikwad showed why he is so highly rated by experts as a future ‘India star’. The 24-year old Pune-born cricketer, who hits proper cricketing shots instead of slogging, hit a whirlwind 101 off 60 balls to lift CSK to 189/4 in 20 overs. Ruturaj made 30 off his first 30 balls; his next 30 balls fetched him and his team a whopping 71 runs including a flurry of boundaries and sixes.

Ruturaj was denied strike by a rampaging Jadeja, who hit some awesome shots; Ruturaj got to play the last ball which he tonked over mid-wicket fence to bring up his first 100 in IPL. There are more to come, say analysts. RR started off in style as the left-hand opening duo of Lewis and Jaiswal played authentic shots from the word go. Hazlewood was torn apart by RR’s batters who hit him for 55 runs; Sam Curran too went for 54 runs, compounding CSK captain Dhoni’s worries further.

Very few cricketers are known to hit booming sixes which travel far; a distance of 90-95 meters is usually considered as huge. Two of Ruturaj’s five sixes traveled for more than 100 meters, which was a huge surprise given the fact that Ruturaj wasn’t as powerfully built as a Jadega or Virat Kohli or MS Dhoni. Jadeja’s 15-ball 32 including four 4’s and a six helped CSK plunder more than 50 runs in less than 4 overs.

RR won the match and moved up over Mumbai Indians (MI) on the points tally; interestingly, RCB will enter play-offs if it beats KXIP tomorrow. MI, RR, KXIP, and KKR will fight hard amongst themselves to win the fourth slot.

The loss hasn’t hurt CSK much as they are sitting pretty on the top of the table but it has come as a wake-up call as the contests in play off-stage could be tougher.

CSK next plays DC, which is ranked below CSK in the points tally because of slightly lesser NRR.

CSK: 189/4 (20 overs)

RR: 190/3 (17.3 overs)

Player of the Match: Ruturaj Gaikwad

Images Courtesy: IPLT20.com BCCI