Change of pitch. Change of attitude. Change of fortunes too. Rajasthan Royals got into a situation completely unchartered, at least this season. The man in charge was clueless and watched the destruction helplessly. He tried arresting the rot but got whipped as just another bowler. For Shane Warne, the reality was staring harshly a day after he had announced his decision to quit playing in the Indian Premier League at the end of this edition.
It was indeed time for Rajasthan Royals, as a team, to take stock of things as Chennai Super Kings recorded a 63–run victory to not only climb to the second place in the table but also strengthen its chances for qualifying. Rajasthan Royals stayed at fifth slot after suffering its second defeat in six matches at home.
Chennai Super Kings did nothing wrong. Rajasthan Royals did nothing right, apart from Warne winning the toss. The first-bat invite to Chennai evoked a strong response. Midwicket-heaves and reverse-sweeps came into play from the very first over and there was a torrent of runs, mostly from the aggressive blade of Mike Hussey.
His partner, M. Vijay, was not averse to playing the role of a silent admirer. When Hussey left, Vijay took over. When Vijay departed, M. S. Dhoni arrived to torment Rajasthan. In between, there was a cameo from Suresh Raina. There were hundreds of empty seats in the stadium and the noise of those present too was lost amidst the fireworks that Chennai lit tonight.
A tweet by Warne hours before the match reflected on his mindset. “1st time in 4yrs we got told what wicket to play on — strange ? Average score in Jaipur is 154 groundmen has / does a great job,” tweeted the master of spin. He was standing up for Taposh Chatterjee, the affable curator at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium. Warne was livid at the match being played on the extreme part of the square. It hardly mattered though. The batsmen revelled in all directions.
Rajasthan bowling lacked teeth, direction, will to fight. In sharp contrast, Chennai was geared up. The tactic was to charge and Hussey displayed sparkling form.
He put his bat to the ball in the most profitable fashion; his shots flew in a wider range and Rajasthan's woes multiplied from some poor fielding. Vijay was dropped by Ajinkya Rahane and the sloppy work in the field only pushed the home team into a tight corner.
Hussey was a delight, as he always is, hardly hustled or hassled. Vijay continues to shine in whatever role he is assigned. Some of his straight hits with a very straight bat belonged to another league.
But they were entertaining here too. Raina, starting with a copybook forward defence, swiftly got into his act of cross-batted hits.
Eventually he lost his wicket to one crass heave too many.
But it all works in this form of cricket where a mishit is a thrill and an edged-boundary worthy of applause.
Formidable total
Chennai reached a formidable total with Dhoni performing his customary role, a few robust shots, and a few well-executed ones keeping the Rajasthan bowlers in a state of turmoil. This had turned out to be a docile response from the local team to a situation that demanded an improved show. The pitch factor was at the back of mind possibly and harmed the team to a large extent.
The chase by Rajasthan was flattering. Rahul Dravid smashed the ball around but not for too long.
Shane Watson and Ross Taylor, promoted in the order, failed to deliver, their expansive shots not reaching the intended destinations.
There was some contrived entertainment for the audience from Rahane but it was too late and too good to last.
Chennai had already wrapped up the contest in style.
Scoreboard:
Chennai Super Kings: M. Hussey b Botha 46 (30b, 8x4), M. Vijay (run out) 53 (40b, 2x4, 3x6), Suresh Raina b Amit Singh 43 (27b, 6x4), M.S. Dhoni (not out) 41 (19b, 3x4, 3x6), J. Morkel (not out) 5 (4b); Extras (lb-2, w-6): 8; Total (for three wkts. in 20 overs): 196.
Fall of wickets: 1-77, 2-135, 3-179.
Rajasthan Royals bowling: Menaria 2-0-17-0, Amit 4-0-40-1, Watson 4-0-47-0, Botha 4-0-23-1, Warne 4-0-34-0, Trivedi 2-0-33-0.
Rajasthan Royals: S. Watson c Jakati b Ashwin 11 (10b, 1x4), R. Dravid c Dhoni b Bollinger 20 (16b, 2x4), A. Rahane c Raina b Bravo 52 (36b, 7x4), R. Taylor c Saha b Morkel 6 (8b), A. Menaria c Dhoni b Ashwin 2 (5b), J. Botha c & b Bollinger 14 (17b), A. Raut (run out) 19 (14b, 1x4, 1x6), D. Yagnik b Bollinger 3 (7b), Amit Singh c & b Raina 1 (2b), S. Trivedi (not out) 0 (0b), S. Warne c Bravo b Raina 0 (2b); Extras (w-5): 5; Total (in 19.3 overs): 133.
Fall of wickets: 1-27, 2-48, 3-63, 4-70, 5-105, 6-129, 7-132, 8-133, 9-133.
Chennai Super Kings bowling: Morkel 3-0-21-1, Bollinger 4-0-22-3, Bravo 4-0-36-1, Ashwin 4-0-24-2, Jakati 4-0-30-0, Raina 0.3-0-0-2.
Man of the Match: M. Vijay.
