Published 23:35 IST, September 22nd 2020
IPL 2020: Rajasthan kickstart campaign with a victory, beats Chennai by 16 runs
The Steve Smith-led Rajasthan kicked-off their IPL 2020 campaign with a dominating victory by 16 runs against three-time champions Chennai on Tuesday.
The Steve Smith-led Rajasthan kicked-off their Dream 11 IPL 2020 campaign with a dominating victory by 16 runs against three-time champions Chennai on Tuesday at the Sharjah International Stadium. Rajasthan had set a mammoth total of 217 runs with significant contributions from skipper Steve Smith, Sanju Samson and Jofra Archer. Despite a victory in their last game, Chennai struggled to get things right against Rajasthan as the bowlers were smacked across the park while the batsmen failed to get going in the high-run chase.
In response to Rajasthan's first innings, Chennai got off to a mild start. However, just as Shane Watson seemed to get going, he was bowled by Rahul Tewatia. The spinner also scalped the wicket of Sam Curran who hit him for two sixes and then bagged the wicket of Ruturaj Gaekwad. With the chase looking far-fetched, Faf du Plessis continued to keep Chennai in the game with some brilliant maximums.
Despite the Proteas' batsman's gritty half-century, Chennai were unable to chase the target with some tight death bowling by Jofra Archer and Tom Curran. du Plessis top-scored for the MS Dhoni-led side with 72 runs before getting dismissed off Archer's short-pitched delivery.
Chennai skipper MS Dhoni fired some shots towards the end but resulted in a losing cause. Tewatia was the pick of Rajasthan bowlers as he picked 3 wickets while giving away 37 runs.
Samson, Smith anchor Rajasthan past 200
Losing the toss and being put to bat first, Rajasthan got off to a flyer as Sanju Samson rained sixes at Sharjah despite losing Yashasvi Jaiswal early. The number three batsman left skipper Steve Smith gazing as he smashed the ball across the park. Samson hit 9 maximums as he scored 74 off just 32 deliveries.
It was then skipper Smith who else one end strong while wickets fell continuously from the other end. However, the skipper was sent back to the pavilion by Chennai's star bowler of the night - Sam Curran - after scoring 69. Just when Chennai thought that they had pulled things back and slowed the runs, Jofra Archer ran riot in the last over tearing apart Proteas pacer. The Englishman four sixes off just two valid balls taking Rajasthan past the 200-mark and setting a target of 217 for Chennai to chase.
Updated 23:35 IST, September 22nd 2020