With a crushing 32-run victory over Chennai Super Kings, Rajasthan Royals, who had dropped their previous two games, not only got their winning streak back on track but also regained first place in the IPL points standings.
Yashasvi Jaiswal attacked his way to 77 off 43 balls after the Royals decided to bat. Super Kings did attempt a brief recovery in the middle overs, but Royals’ 202 for 5 total—the first 200-plus total by an IPL side in Jaipur—was boosted by late strikes from Dhruv Jurel (34 off 15) and Devdutt Padikkal (27* off 13).
Despite hitting his yorkers with lightning speed, Matheesha Pathirana was unfortunate to let up 48 runs in his four overs, as 28 of those runs came from batters who were not in control of their shots.
The start that Super Kings had hoped for never materialized. They were further stopped by R Ashwin and Adam Zampa, who shared five wickets. The only person to raise an objection was Shivam Dube, but it was too late.
Super Kings appeared to have more fans in the crowd than the Royals did, despite the fact that it was an away game for them. However, Jaiswal and Jos Buttler continued to give Royals a flying start, showing that it had no impact on them. In the opening two balls of the game, Jaiswal smacked Akash Singh for two fours, and he added a third in the over.
In the seamer’s subsequent over, he was even more brutal, collecting three fours and a six. Buttler struck Tushar Deshpande twice for fours in the interim.
MS Dhoni turned to spin when the seamers were going for lots of runs, and Maheesh Theekshana bowled a three-run over. Buttler, however, took the spinner for two fours in the sixth over, both times smashing length balls off the back foot over his head to help the Royals reach 64 without losing any wickets.
With Buttler’s wicket, Ravindra Jadeja broke the opening stand, but Jaiswal persisted. Jaiswal had scored 81 runs off 70 deliveries in the middle overs prior to this match. He hammered 37 off 22 after the field limitations were abolished tonight; there was no slowdown.
Sanju Samson and Jaiswal were taken out of the game by Deshpande in the fourteenth over to temporarily slow the rate of runs scored. With only 28 runs scored from overs 14 to 17, the Royals suffered three wicket losses.
Once again, Jurel and Padikkal, who entered at No. 6, tossed their bat around just as Super Kings appeared to be able to keep them to less than 200.
Although the runs weren’t always successful, they were frequent. Royals smashed 56 in the final four overs thanks in part to Super Kings’ careless fielding, which frequently made Dhoni appear irate.
Trent Boult’s ailment provided Zampa with an opening. And the legspinner had an effect after just one over. As he pitched the final pitch of the powerplay, Devon Conway hit a ball to mid-off.
Ruturaj Gaikwad was attempting to make up for the sluggish start of the Super Kings. When he attempted to attack Zampa, he was caught at long-on after moving up to 47 off 28 balls.
Super Kings were further pushed back in the ensuing over, the 11th of the innings, by R Ashwin, who also got rid of Ajinkya Rahane and Ambati Rayudu.
Dube and Moeen indicated a potential comeback when 130 needed from nine overs. In the following three overs, the partnership smacked four sixes and a four, lowering the equation from the previous five to only 90.
Samson turned back to Zampa, who didn’t let down his captain this time. Moeen also scored a boundary after being blasted into the stands by Dube, but with the sixth delivery of the over, Zampa got Moeen to edge one to Samson.
But Dube persisted in the struggle. In the 17th over, he struck Jason Holder for a six and two fours. Jadeja took Sandeep Sharma for two fours in the following over, but it was too difficult to make 46 runs in the final two overs.