Disciplined Chennai restrict Rajasthan to 151/7

Jaipur, April 11 (IANS) Chennai Super Kings rode on some disciplined bowling effort to restrict Rajasthan Royals to a modest 151/7 in their Indian Premier League (IPL) tie at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, here on Thursday.

Despite having some star batsmen in their line-up, Chennai bowlers jolted Rajasthan at regular intervals. It was Shreyas Gopal's quickfire seven-ball 19* down the order that helped the hosts cross the 150-run mark.

For Chennai, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur and Ravindra Jadeja picked up two wickets each while Mitchell Santner bagged one.

Put into bat by the most successful IPL franchise, the home side lost skipper Ajinkya Rahane (14 off 11) in the third over. His partner Jos Buttler (23 off 10) also departed in the next over with just 45 runs on the board.

While Chahar was dismissed by Rahane, Buttler's stay was cut short by Thakur.

Sanju Samson (6) also couldn't show much fight, becoming a victim of Santner in the sixth over, as the Rajasthan middle-order collapsed with Steven Smith (15 off 22) and Rahul Tripathi (10 off 12) also falling in quick succession with just 78 runs on the board.

Ben Stokes (28 off 26), Riyan Parag (16 off 14), Jofra Archer (13* off 12) and Gopal then chipped in with valuable contributions to help Rajastha post a somewhat respectable total.

Brief scores

Rajasthan Royals: 151/7 (Ben Stokes 28, Shreyas Gopal 19 not out; Ravindra Jadeja 2/20, Deepak Chahar 2/33) vs Chennai Super Kings