Calcutta/Ahmedabad: A rampaging Rajasthan Royals thrashed Chennai Super Kings by eight wickets as openers Shane Watson and Ajinkya Rahane hit strokeful fifties to help their team register a fifth straight win in IPL VIII and extend their lead at the top, at the Motera, on Sunday.
Chasing 157, Royals rode a 144-run record opening stand between captain Watson (73 off 47 balls), who made a comeback after recovering from an injury, and Rahane (76 not out) to canter home with 10 balls to spare and hand the Super Kings their first loss in this edition.
The previous best opening partnership for the Royals was the 135-run stand between Graeme Smith and Naman Ojha in Durban back in 2009. After taking stock of the slow-paced wicket in the first six overs, Watson cut loose before the strategic time-out to punish the rival bowlers at will.
Watson hit six fours and four sixes to provide perfect entertainment to the Sunday crowd. Rahane, who smashed his second fifty of the season, matched Watson stroke by stroke to accumulate 231 runs in five appearances and get the Orange Cap for being the leading run-scorer.
Watson was finally done in by a yorker from Ravindra Jadeja as the left-arm spinner got a consolation wicket in the 17th over.
The Super Kings delayed the inevitable by getting another wicket as Steve Smith gave a simple caught and bowled chance to Dwayne Bravo in the penultimate over.
Karun Nair (1 not out) walked in to hit the winning runs as Rahane savoured the victory at the non-striker’s end with his 55-ball stay laced with six fours and two sixes.
Earlier electing to bat in hot and testing conditions, the Super Kings lost early wickets, but skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (31 not out) and Bravo (62 not out off 36 balls) stitched together an unbroken 91 runs for the fifth wicket to lift the team to 156 for four.
“Beating the Super Kings is difficult as they are a great side. Hat’s off to the players for such a super show,” Watson said later.
Excerpts
Shane Watson: It has been a couple of weeks’ break, due to my injury. It’s nice to be back with the Royals. The Super Kings are a great team and we really put in a super show. The wicket was a bit slow, little dry but overall, it was pretty good. We knew we could chase down the target. The bowlers were excellent. Picking up early wickets against the Super Kings is very important.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni: It was an off-day for us. We started well, but I went in and ate up too many deliveries. We got only a par score. It was difficult to stop Watson and Rahane as they rotated the strike well.
Ajinkya Rahane (MoM): I am enjoying my batting. Opening with Watson is a pleasure. He dominates the opposition, as I just need to give the strike back to him. I like to keep my batting simple. My job is to anchor the innings.
Stephen Fleming (CSK coach): The match was pretty one-sided. We were outplayed by the Royals in every department. We need to improve a lot in the fielding department… We have not concentrated much on it. I can say that we were around 20 run short due to some hiccups in the beginning. We are surely pretty disappointed.
