Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal's attacking fifty (77 off 43) propelled Rajasthan Royals to 202/5 against Chennai Super Kings in Match No. 37 of IPL 2023 at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, here on Thursday.
Apart from Jaiswal, the likes of Dhruv Jurel (34 off 15), Jos Buttler (27 off 21), and Devdutt Padikkal (24 off 12) contributed to the Royals' big score on a batting-friendly pitch.
After winning the toss and opting to bat first, openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler gave Rajasthan a flying start, scoring 60/0 in the Power-play. Jaiswal took on Akash Singh in the very first over, hitting the pacer for three boundaries. His batting partner Buttler targeted Tushar Deshpande and got two boundaries in an over.
Yashasvi was in no mood to stop as he hammered Akash for 18 runs in the pacer's next over, courtesy of three fours and one six. With the pacers going for runs, CSK skipper Dhoni was forced to bring in the spinner and Maheesh Theekshana did well to concede just 3 runs.
The next two overs bowled by Deshpande and Theekshana brought 19 runs for the Royals, who were going strong. Even after the Power-play Jaiswal continued his blitz and stormed his way to a 26-ball half-century.
CSK badly needed a breakthrough and it was provided by Ravindra Jadeja, who dismissed Buttler in the 8th over to give some respite to his team. While Jaiswal decided to continue with his aggressive approach, skipper Sanju Samson was happily playing the second fiddle as Royals crossed the 100-run mark in the 10th over.
With Jaiswal and Samson at the crease, it seemed like Rajasthan were cruising towards a big total but Tushar Deshpande removed both set batters in the same over -- the 14th of the innings -- to bring CSK back into the game. Samson first mistimed one to get caught at long-on and Jaiswal too didn't quite middle the ball, with Ajinkya Rahane taking the catch at backward point, and leaving Rajasthan Royals at 132-3 after 13.5 overs.
With a healthy run rate on the board, the platform was set for the finishers. However, Shimron Hetmyer (8) got out to Theekshana, while trying to play a cut shot but was completely cramped up and bottom-edged the ball into the stumps.
From there on, the responsibility was on Dhruv Jurel and Devdutt Padikkal to finish strongly for the Royals and they didn't disappoint, scoring 56 runs in the last four overs.
Jurel played some brilliant shots during his superb cameo while Padikkal chipped in though he was lucky with a couple of streaky boundaries -- Royals posting 202/5 in 20 overs, which is the highest total at this ground in IPL history.
Brief scores:
Rajasthan Royals 202/5 in 20 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 77, Dhruv Jurel 34; Tushar Deshpande 2/42) vs Chennai Super Kings
