Rajasthan Royals rode Sanju Samson’s brilliant 74, somewhat final about England bowler Jofra Archer’s heroics with the bat, hit four sixes in a row, and Rahul Tewatia’s three-wicket outburst was enough along with Steve Smith’s half-century. to help secure a 16- win over Chennai Super Kings in their 2020 IPL opening game in Sharjah.
Unlike the first three games, there were many big hits in the fourth game as Sharjah’s cricket stadium is smaller than the other two venues being used in the IPL this season.
In the last over, Jofra Archer used his long handle to great effect and crushed Ngidi everywhere on the ground and above him to collect 30 runs, while Samson crushed nine of the 17 sixes that were hit by the Royals during their tickets.
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RR posted a mammoth 216 for seven wickets in 20 overs and the three-time champion CSK finished with 200 for six wickets in 20 overs, despite a late raise from Faf du Plessis (72), at Sharjah International Stadium.
Dream11 Match 4 GameChanger between @rajasthanroyals and @ChennaiIPL is Sanju Samson.@ Dream11 #YeApnaGameHai # Dream11IPL pic.twitter.com/gSk6CChB1x
– IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) September 22, 2020
Starters Shane Watson (33) and Murali Vijay (21) ensured CSK crossed 50 in the first six overs. Rahul Tewatia (3/37), however, made sure that CSK did not take advantage of the small opportunity that Watson provided. He fired the Australian veteran and then Sam Curran, who was hitting the ball cleanly. Shreyas Gopal got Vijay’s wicket in the next over after Watson was fired.
Tewatia also secured the wicket from busy Kedar Jadhav (22), thanks to a strong one-handed catch from wicketkeeper Samson. du Plessis then tried to milk as many runs of the “death” overs as he could. But when he fell 72 of 37, CSK still needed 38 of seven balls to win. That turned into 38 to win the last over when Ravindra Jadeja left the next ball unharmed.
MS Dhoni (29) hit three straight sixes in the last plus, helping his team narrow the margin of defeat to 16 runs.
Earlier, Rajasthan lost young starter Yashasvi Jaiswal (6) in the third over, but then Samson joined Smith as the duo played sensibly early on before the Kerala wicket-keeper batsman hit the spinners from the opposition.
Samson (74 of 32) looked great, while Smith, who returned to competitive cricket after recovering from a concussion suffered before the ODI series against England, was 67 of 49 balls to lay the groundwork for the Rajasthan total. Smith initially played second fiddle when Samson led Ravindra Jadeja and Piyush Chawla to the task by taking 95 runs of eight overs together.
Samson hit Chawla for three sixes in his first over and raised his fastest IPL of fifty on just 19 balls with the help of a limit and six hits over the fence.
If that wasn’t enough for Chawla, the spinning leg again leaked on his next lap when Samson and Smith took it to the dry cleaner.
CSK made a much-needed comeback in the match at 12 with twin shots in the form of fit Samson and the unfortunate David Miller.
While after a great display of punches, Samson fell for too many, caught by Deepak Chahar off Lungi Ngidi, Miller snapped two balls later in search of a non-existent double.
CSK got back into the game at 17 when Sam Curran fired Rahul Tewatia and Riyan Parag before Smith left at 119 in search of big hits.
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