Sanju Samson's all-round blitz sinks CSK

RR: 216/7 (20 overs)
CSK: 200/6 (20 overs)

Man of the Match: Sanju Samson

Rajasthan Royals (RR) beat Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by 16 runs on Tuesday to begin their IPL-2020 campaign on a huge winning note at Sharjah, UAE.

RR made a whopping 216 in 20 overs; in reply, CSK managed 200, falling short by 16 runs. If Sanju Samson was RR’s star, du Plessis shone again for CSK, hitting a blistering 72 off 36 balls, which paled in comparison to Samson’s 32-ball 74.

Dhoni won the toss and chose to field first. Teen sensation Yashasvi Jaiswal departed early, bringing keeper-batsman Sanju Samson to the crease; as they say, the rest was history.

Scintillating Sanju

Sanju Samson put to sword CSK’s bowling attack, hitting sixes at will off spinners and pacers. He took special liking to Piyush Chawla, hitting three sixes in an over; a no-ball made it a 27-run over as Smith hit a six off the ‘free-hit’ last ball. Smith, who promoted himself as opener, played second fiddle to Sanju in their 121-run partnership for the second wicket in just 9.2 overs.

Smith played a captain’s knock, held one end together and got out for 69 in the 19th over with RR's score at 178/7. Jofra Archer then took over as he hit four huge sixes off a hapless Ngidi in the last over which fetched 30 runs to take RR’s score to 216.

Vijay, Ruturaj falter

CSK began needing more than 10.8 runs per over; Watson hit four sixes in his 21-ball 33 but Vijay failed again. Ruturaj Gaikwad (replacing Rayudu, last match’s ‘Man of the Match’) played a rank-bad shot to get a ‘golden duck’. Sam Curran, promoted up in the order, hit a couple of sixes but couldn’t get going. When Kedar Jadhav fell in the 14th over with CSK’s score at 114/5, it was almost over for CSK as the run-rate was climbing steeply. Fatwas the top-scorer while Dhoni hit three sixes in the last over to help CSK reach 200, making critics feel why he didn’t start his big-hitting in the 15th or 16th over.

Sixers galore

A new IPL record for sixes in a match was set yesterday as both the teams traded big hits almost at will. While RR hit 17 sixes, CSK responded by hitting 16 sixes, thus setting an IPL record of 33 sixes in a match.

Samson, who also took two catches and effected two quick stumpings behind the wicket, was adjudged the ‘Man of the Match’.

Picture Courtesy : IPLT20.com