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Today’s match was a rematch of the final of the 2008 edition of IPL as the Ajinkya Rahane led Rajasthan Royals took on the mighty Chennai Superkings.
It was the first match of Chennai at their new home, Pune. Rajasthan won the toss and elected to field first.
Chennai got off to a terrific start courtesy a strong partnership between Shane Watson and Suresh Raina.
The star of the match was Watson whose explosive knock of 106 runs ensured that Chennai posted a huge score of 204 runs.
In reply, Rajasthan got off to a terrible start as they lost three wickets for just 35 runs off their first six overs.
The Royals could not recover from such a poor start and eventually lost the match by 64 runs.
Let us have a look at the five reasons why the Rajasthan Royals lost the contest.
#5 Disastrous Powerplay
Chasing a big target of 205 runs, Rajasthan needed a powerful start at the top. However, all their hopes of catching up with the required run rate at the beginning of their innings were dashed as Rajasthan lost three wickets for just 35 runs in the powerplay overs.
After going for 14 runs of his first over, Deepak Chahar made a stellar comeback, conceding just eight runs off his next two overs and picking up two crucial wickets of Sanju Samson and Rahane.
The dismissal of Rahane was particularly impressive as the young Chennai pacer deceived him with a very well disguised knuckle ball. Such a poor start sealed the fate for Rajasthan.
#4 Watson’s imperious knock
Watson has looked good this season but has not been able to convert his starts into big scores.
However, today he was in a mood for some big runs. After riding his luck early on in the innings, Watson played a destructive knock today.
His innings included nine fours and six massive sixes.
He did not allow the frugal offie K Gowtham to settle today as he smashed him for two sixes and a four in the ninth over.
He was particularly severe on Stuart Binny whom he walloped for five fours in his two overs. Watson’s knock of 106 runs off just 57 balls turned out to be the difference between the sides.
#3 Another off day for Rajasthan’s seamers
Rajasthan have invested a lot in their pace battery but so far this season their seamers have not repaid the faith shown by the team management in them.
After having a disastrous performance against KKR in their previous game, Rajasthan’s seamers again failed to do anything of note today.
Jaydev Unadkat went wicketless again and conceded 39 runs off his four overs. Ben Stokes had an off day as well, having an economy of 13 runs per over.
The seamers need to lift their game if the Royals have to have any chance of making the playoffs.
#2 Watson’s costly drop
Players like Gayle, Watson do not offer many chances to the opposition. But when they do, you need to make sure that they are not spilled.
The decision of opening the bowling with Stuart Binny raised a few eyebrows. Binny did not start off well and was hammered for two boundaries off the first two balls.
However, Binny almost made an immediate impact as he managed to draw an edge from the bat off Watson.
Rahul Tripathi moved swiftly to his right at first slip but was unable to hold on. The drop would prove to be very costly for the Royals as Watson went on to slam a blistering century.
#1 Poor tactics by the team management
It seems that the departure of Shane Warne has dealt a severe blow to Rajasthan’s team management.
A series of strange decisions were made by them in the field today. With Watson going strong, Rahane gave the ball to the off-spinner Gowtham.
Watson made full use of the ball turning into him and the small boundaries on offer as he smashed Gowtham for two towering sixes and a four.
Rahane was also guilty of throwing the ball to Binny when Watson was in full flow. The mighty Australian obliged by smashing Binny for three consecutive boundaries.
Tripathi who had a successful stint last year as an opening batsman was made to bat at No.6 again while a middle order batsman (Henrich Klassen) opened the innings.
These woeful decisions had a big say in the outcome of today’s match.
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