Dubai: Ravindra Jadeja’s impressive all-round show inspired Chennai Super Kings to a seven-run win over Rajasthan Royals in Wednesday night’s Pepsi Indian Premier League (IPL) 2014 match at a packed Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
The Indian left-arm spinner, who made a useful unbeaten 36 with the bat, claimed four for 33 as Rajasthan’s batting crumbled despite only chasing a target of 141. The Royals were bowled out for 133 as a succession of rash shots gifted wicket after wicket to the Super Kings, who themselves looked far from secure when making their way to 140 for six after being put in to bat.
The Super Kings now have two wins from three matches in this season’s IPL, while Rajasthan remain with one triumph so far.
West Indian Dwayne Smith was the only player from either side to truly impose himself on the opposition as the Chennai opener smashed 50 from 28 balls.
Smith produced a glorious cover drive from the first ball of the match off Dhawal Kulkarni, but he was kept quiet for the rest of the opening over and one ball even reared up off a good length to catch the batsman by surprise.
Australian all-rounder James Faulkner put his foot in it at the recent World Twenty20 by declaring he didn’t like the West Indies team, and Smith gave him some more payback for that comment by dispatching him back over his head for a big six.
CSK’s start was steady rather than spectacular and, after four overs, they had just 20 runs. Smith tried to up the ante with another straight maximum off Tim Southee, while a cut to the boundary off the last ball meant 12 came from the fifth over.
The first breakthrough came when Brendon McCullum, who had stuttered to six from 10 balls, was spectacularly caught by Steven Smith, who sprinted to mid-wicket and hung on at full stretch after the Kiwi had top-edged a pull off Faulkner. But Dwayne Smith then hit the next four balls to the fence — through fine leg, third man and mid-off twice — to take Chennai past the 50 mark as the powerplay ended.
Smith reached his half-century in the eighth over, when he deposited Stuart Binny over the leg-side boundary. But he perished from the next ball as he could only spoon a shot into the air and Shane Watson took the catch. His 50 included six fours and three maximums and, at that stage, he had scored all but nine of his team’s runs.
Suresh Raina (4) and Faf du Plessis (7) fell in quick succession and, with wickets tumbling, Chennai were in dire need of a big innings from their captain and talisman Mahendra Singh Dhoni. But that didn’t materialise this time as he holed out to Faulkner in the deep off Pravin Tambe for five and his team were in trouble at 74 for five.
Eventually some desperate swinging and running from Jadeja (36 from 33) and Ravichandran Ashwin (9 from 13) brought an unbeaten 39-run partnership for the seventh wicket to boost the CSK score, but it still looked below par.
Bhatia was the pick of the Rajasthan bowlers with two for 13 from his four, but the team gave away 11 runs in wides that ultimately proved costly.
In reply, the Royals slumped to 44 for four after seven overs, with Ajinkya Rahane and Watson particularly guilty of throwing their wickets away.
Dhoni’s disappointing night took a turn for the worse when he badly fumbled a stumping opportunity with Binny a couple of yards down the pitch after being beaten by Raina. But the miss didn’t prove costly as Binny became the latest to fall to an unnecessary big shot, leaving Rajasthan 63 for five and still requiring 78 from 54 balls.
The Royals’ cause seemed hopeless when Bhatia and Kulkarni came together at 85 for eight, but they put on 28 together and Kulkarni produced some fine hitting to score an unbeaten 28 off 19 and get Rajasthan closer to the line than expected.
Earlier, Watson won the toss and put Chennai in to bat. With Kane Williamson unavailable due to sickness, his fellow New Zealander Southee was drafted in for his Royals debut — against the team he represented five times back in 2011, his only previous taste of the IPL. Super Kings captain Dhoni, meanwhile, named an unchanged side.
