IPL 2023: How Rajasthan Royals used strategic intent to defeat Chennai Super Kings

CSK skipper MS Dhoni acknowledged that his team was outplayed in all departments of the game and that it was always playing catch-up against a dominant Rajasthan Royals as the IPL crossed the halfway mark on Thursday.

It is easy to make a formative assessment of a game on rewind, but the bottom line was that the Royals played a better brand of cricket. Period.

Bookending its innings with a rousing start and emphatic finish enabled it to call the shots and set up what in the end was a comfortable 32-run victory after scoring a record 202 at the Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.

Here are five factors that made the difference.

Positive approach

The match was virtually won in the first six overs of each innings. While Rajasthan always seemed like it was playing above par, albeit with the help of plentiful edges and nicks, CSK was forced to play catch-up after a poor start to its reply to a total of 202.

When it fielded, its bowlers controlled line and length to the extent that it was difficult for the majority of the CSK batsmen to bat in their comfort zones. They were always having to adjust and this cost them dearly.

Early stutter

Confronting a 200-run target, CSK was weighed down by an out-of-sorts Devon Conway which put the pressure on Ruturaj Gaikwad, who did well to handle it. But just 42 runs off the powerplay meant that it had a lot of catching up to do.

It told on them and it lost three wickets in eight deliveries including the man of the moment, Gaikwad (47 from 29).

Rajasthan did well to keep the lid on the Chennai batters and quickly got rid of the dangerous Ajinkya Rahane (15 from 13) and Ambati Rayudu (0 from 2).

Glimmer of hope

Shivam Dube (52 from 33), CSK’s designated finisher, looked in good nick as he began striking the ball cleanly right from the start but the burden of pushing the run rate proved too much as wickets fell around him towards the end of the innings.

Although Moeen Ali (23 from 12) and Ravindra Jadeja (23 not out from 15) had a go themselves it proved to be a case of too little too late and the fightback never materialised.

Intense start

Right from the very first over, Royals batted with intent. While both Jos Buttler (27 from 21 deliveries) and the outstanding Yashasvi Jaiswal (77 from 43) rampantly struck boundaries, they also batted responsibly, running hard between the wickets and rotating the strike, which unsettled the Super King bowlers. With 64 in the powerplay, Royals had a strong platform on which to build a big innings.

Intense finish

Although CSK was able to contain the onslaught to some extent in the middle overs, Dhruv Jurel (34 from15) and Devdutt Padikkal (27 not out from 13) ensured that Rajasthan’s innings ended the way it started, with a bang.

The way Jurel, in particular, kept finding the gaps and the boundary was exhilarating and once again demonstrated that the T20 format is not for the faint-hearted.

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