Buttler spices up play-off race as clinical Rajasthan push Chennai to brink with win

Mohammad Abdullah, Staff Reporter

Jos Buttler struck a quick-fire 48-ball 70 as Rajasthan Royals (RR) all but ended Chennai Super Kings’ hopes of reaching the play-offs with a comprehensive seven-wicket victory over a beleaguered Chennai (CSK) in Dubai on Monday.

After restricting Chennai to a paltry total of 125/5, Rajasthan knocked down the winning run for the loss of just three wickets with 15 balls to spare.

With the victory, Rajasthan moved to the fifth spot in the standings, procuring eight points from 10 matches. They have also heated up the race for the top four spot as four teams are separated by just fours points.

Defending the smallest total of the tournament in this season, Chennai did try to make some in-roads through their bowlers before Buttler took the charge in hands to lead the chase.

Rajasthan had lost three wickets in quick successions and were reeling at 28-3 with another 98 runs required. Deepak Chahar rattled the stumps of Ben Stokes and had Sanju Samson caught by MS Dhoni. Josh Hazlewood removed Robin Uthappa to push Rajasthan into a quagmire.  Buttler and Steve Smith knuckled down to anchor the innings. The duo added an unbeaten 98 runs for the fourth wicket to take Rajsathan over the line.  Buttler’s innings was studded with seven boundaries and two over the fence while Smith smashed two fours in his 34-ball 26.

Earlier, Shreyas Gopal and Rahul Tewatia bowled fascinating spells to contain Chennai batsmen after Jofra Archer began the proceedings in style. The spin duo of Rajasthan bowled a tight line in tandem not allowing the Chennai players to flex their muscles.

They conceded an aggregate 32 runs in a combined spell of eight overs, picking up wicket each. It was Archer, who triggered the collapse to give Rajasthan the first breakthrough, by getting rid of former South African batsman Faf Du Plessis.

After losing the first wicket with just 13 runs on the board, Chennai could never really recover and kept on losing the wickets on regular intervals.

Shane Watson came out in the middle and hit three consecutive fours off Rahul Tyagi to the heat on  Rajasthan. But Tyagi came back strongly to get rid of the Australian all-rounder by getting him caught by Tewatia.

Gopal was brought into the attack in the seventh over. He began well, conceding just two runs. From the other end, Smith introduced Tewatia.

Both the spinners were bowling in tandem as Chennai batsmen found it difficult to open their arms. In his second over, Gopal lured Sam Curran into playing an aerial shot off a flighted delivery. Curran fell into his trap and holed out to Buttler as Chennai lost their third wicket. Ambati Rayudu could not last longer as he miscued a sweep shot. The ball went up high in th  air and landed in the safe hands of Samson. Tweatia returned with a figure of 1-18 in his four overs while Gopal was a little more parsimonious as he conceded four runs lesser in his quota of four overs.

Dhoni and Jadeja showed a brief resistance, waging a battle as they added 51 runs for the fourth wicket but consumed too many deliveries.

Jadeja scored a lethargic 30-ball 35 with the help of four boundaries while Dhoni played a more sedated innings as labored to 28 off 28 deliveries, hitting just two fours in the process. Chennai wrapped up their innings for a paltry 125/5 – the smallest total of the tournament in this season.