Chennai Super Kings live for now. They beat Rajasthan Royals by five wickets at their home ground in Chepauk on Sunday to take their tally to 14 points from 13 matches. They occupy the third spot in the standings.
But will they sleep in peace? Not at the moment, because the playoffs are still quite a distance away from them. Kolkata Knight Riders have already qualified for the playoffs and there are possibilities of other teams finishing above or matching Chennai in the final standings after the league stage.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (14 points) and Lucknow Super Giants (12) have two games left each and can go past Chennai if the Ruturaj Giakwad-captained team fail to win their last match. Even Royal Challengers Bengaluru (12), Delhi Capitals (12) and Gujarat Titans (10) can catch up with Chennai if the five-time champions falter in their last game. What’s more worrisome is RCB have a positive net run rate.
To make matters more intriguing, Chennai will be playing away against RCB in their final game. That may turn out to be a knockout game.
But they played well on Sunday. Their bowlers did not let Royals’ powerful batting line-up run away with the game first by restricting them to just 141/5, and then, the batters, led by skipper Ruturaj, ensured that they did not mess up the relatively easy chase. This performance should egg them on to go all out for a win in their final league game.
Though the Chennai track on Sunday looked great for the spinners, it was the seamers who got all the wickets for the home team. Simarjeet Singh dished out his best performance in the IPL, claiming 3/26. Tushar Deshpande was not far behind with figures of 2/30.
Barring the in-form Riyan Parag, who top-scored with a 35-ball unbeaten 47 on the slow wicket, the other Royals batters struggled to negotiate the Chennai bowlers. In hindsight, Sanju Samson’s decision to bat first was not a great decision given the nature of the surface.
Ruturaj led the chase with an unbeaten 42 off 41 balls and cameos from the others too were crucial.
The game also had its share of drama when Chennai’s Ravindra Jadeja was given out for obstructing the field.