Rajasthan Royals clinched a tight win over CSK to bring up their first win of this IPL 2025 courtesy Nitish Rana (81) outstanding Knock and Wanindu Hasaranga 4- fer. This was Chennai Super Kings second defeat in a row. RR won this match by a margin of 6 runs.
Nitish Rana change in batting position turns fortunes as well
Chennai Super Kings captain Ruturaj Gaikwad won the toss and elected to field first. Sanju Samson and Jaiswal came to open for RR. RR lost Yashasvi Jaiswal(4) in the first over. Khaleel Ahmed dismissed him. Nitish Rana who batted at no. 4 in previous matches comes one down this time. Nitish Rana hit second ball for the boundary he faced . Jamie Overton who made his Ipl debut, gone for 14 runs in his first over and 16 runs in his second over of the spell.
Nitish Rana took on R. Ashwin for two consecutive sixes and one four and RR got 19 from his over. In last over of powerplay Nitish Rana brings up his 50 his just 21 balls. He hit last ball of powerplay for six and Khaleel give 15 runs.
RR scored 79 runs in first 6 over with the loss of 1 wicket.
Nitish Rana fighting knock, Spinners bring comeback for CSK
Nitish Rana played with intent throughout his innings but from the other end purple cap holder Noor Ahmed managed to strike straightaway and dismissed Sanju Samson(20) caught at long off. Rana and Samson shared a 82 runs partnership for the second wicket. Riyan Parag came at no.4 and played captain’s innings. Rana hit a six and a four on two consecutive deliveries of Ashwin but on the very next ball he got a batter of Nitish Rana and stumped by Ms Dhoni. Nitish Rana Scored 81 runs in just 36 balls including 10 fours and 5 sixes.
Afghanistan’s Noor Ahmed dismissed player in form Dhruv Jurel(3) and bring Csk into the match. Hasaranga(4) caught by Vijay Shankar on Ravindra Jadeja’s ball.
RR made a mess in death overs
Riyan Parag and Shimron Hetmyer were the last pure batter from RR and both found boundaries easily. but neither could get RR to a 200 plus total. Parag(37) was yorked by Pathirana and Hetmyer(19) was caught in last over of Matheesha Pathirana. Royals scored 182-9 at the end of 20 overs.
Khaleel, Noor, and Pathirana got 2-2 wickets each while Ashwin and Jadeja got one wicket.
Jofra Archer tight spell and CSK sticky start
Rachin Ravindra and Rahul Tripathi came to open the innings for CSK. Guwahati pitch began to assist pacers more in the second innings. Jofra Archer beaten a couple of balls to Rachin(0) and got him on the 4th ball. Tushar Deshpande and Archer bowled tight line and lengths gave CSK batters no chance to dominate. CSK just scored 5 runs after 3 overs. IN 4th over, Rahu Tripathi breaks the shackles and scored 2 consecutive fours. Jofra and Sandeep Sharma gave 12 and 14 runs in the last 2 overs of powerplay.
Jofra gives only 13 runs in 3 overs of spell including one maiden over. CSK scored only 42-1 in the powerplay compared to Rajasthan Royals 79.
Ruturaj fighting knock, Hasaranga magic at Guwahati
Ruturaj and Tripathi looks solid but Hasaranga on his very first ball of spell having Rahul Tripathi(23) caught at deep mid-wicket. Chennai sends spin basher Shivam Dube(18) as an impact player. He took on Hasaranga for six and in his next over he hit four and six but his innings didn’t last long as Riyan Parag produce a magical moment in his home ground and took a brilliant catch at over.
Ruturaj got couple of boundaries in Kumar Kartikeya over ensure run rate doesn’t go beyond the reach. Vijay Shankar hit a six on Hasaranga but a magnificent googly from Sri Lankan end his innings. Gaikwad completed his fifty and looks to fight for CSK till the end.
Chennai Super Kings needed 61 runs in last 5 overs.
Sandeep Sharma calmness give Rajasthan two points
Ruturaj Gaikwad(63) took on Hasaranga for a six but he holed out to long on very next ball . This was Hasaranga fourth wicket and he helped RR to defend this total with major strikes regularly. Ravindra Jadeja(32) and Ms Dhoni was on crease for CSK. Maheesh Theekshana bowled 18th over and he gave only six runs. In last two, CSK needed 39 runs. Deshpande bowled penultimate over and CSK scored 19 runs from it.
Royals goes with Sandeep Sharma to bowl final over even though Archer had one over left. On first ball Dhoni(16) played a low full toss wide of deep mid-wicket where Hetmyer took a very fine catch. Overton(11) hit a six but it was not enough in the end CSK lost this match by 6 runs and RR gain two point from it.
For Rajasthan Royal Hasaranga outshines with the figure of 4-0-35-4. Sandeep and Jofra Archer got one wicket each.
Nitish Rana became Man of the Match for his brilliant innings of 81.