IPL 2018, RR vs CSK: 3 unnoticed things from the Rajasthan Royals - Chennai Superkings game

The Rajasthan Royals took on the Chennai Superkings in the 43rd match of this year’s IPL. Rajasthan was desperate for a win as they looked to cement their place in the top four teams.

M.S Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat first. Chennai got off to a superb start, compiling 90 runs in the first 10 overs.

With nine wickets in hand, Chennai looked well set to cross the 200 mark but an excellent fight back in the middle overs by Rajasthan’s bowlers restricted them to a score of 176.

In reply, Royals got off to a great start as Jos Buttler continued in his rich vein of form. Wickets kept falling regularly at the other end but Buttler single-handedly won Rajasthan the game with a ball to spare.

Sportskeeda takes a look at some things that the fans might have missed in today’s match.

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#1 Chennai slowdown in the middle overs

Chennai could only manage to score 44 runs between the 11th and 16th overs

Chennai got off to a fantastic start courtesy a 86 run partnership between Suresh Raina and Shane Watson.

The scorecard read 90/1 after the first 10 overs and a score of above 200 was well on the cards.

But Chennai lost all the momentum in the middle overs as Rajasthan’s bowlers applied the stranglehold.

Archer got the well set Watson with a pacy bouncer while Ish Sodhi got the prized wicket of Raina and pinched in a couple of tight overs. Chennai could only manage to score 44 runs between the 11th over and the 16th over.

#2 Dhoni kept quiet in the death overs

The Rajasthan bowlers kept Dhoni quiet

Dhoni has had a wonderful IPL this year. He has won quite a few matches on his own through some ferocious hitting.

He has returned to his vintage best in terms of death overs hitting. However, Dhoni struggled a bit today in the death overs as Rajasthan’s bowlers executed their plans to perfection.

Jaydev Unadkat’s back of the length off-cutters did not allow Dhoni any room to swing his arms and he was forced to look for the ones and the twos.

Archer was also banged on with his yorkers on the pads and Dhoni did not get the desired length to get under and whack it over the fence.

He only managed one four and one six during the course of his innings.

#3 Stokes’s eventful innings

Stokes had an eventful game

Ben Stokes has struggled for runs this season batting in the middle order for Rajasthan Royals. Hence, the team management decided to promote him up the order with the hope that the move would work wonders, similar to that of Buttler.

But the move failed as Stokes was out for just 11 runs off seven balls. However, it was a truly eventful inning from Stokes as he was almost run out without facing a ball.

He tried a reverse sweep on the second ball, was given out through a soft signal on the fourth ball, got a four of an inside edge on the fifth ball, swept a huge six on the sixth ball and was finally bowled on the seventh ball.

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