Rajasthan Royals finished their IPL 2025 campaign on a high note.
Rajasthan Royals (RR) finished their IPL 2025 campaign on a high note, defeating Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by six wickets at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Tuesday (May 20),
The inaugural IPL champions successfully chased down the target of 188 in just 17.1 overs, riding on a magnificent half-century from Vaibhav Suryavanshi (57 off 33) and crucial contributions from Sanju Samson (41 off 31), Yashasvi Jaiswal (36 off 19), and Dhruv Jurel (31 off 12).
It was RR’s second successful chase of the season in 10 matches. No wonder, skipper Samson was pleased with his team finally crossing the finishing line.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, Samson admitted that they were looking to bat first, given their poor record while chasing.
“It feels good. To be honest, we were thinking should we bat first and set a score. I decided no hiding in this game. The way people are looking at powerplay. There is not much difference in quality of teams. The margin of error in winning and losing is so less. We have to sit back and do a proper review. Definitely we could have done better. It is not about luck. We have made some mistakes. We should come back with a better mindset in the next season,” Samson said.
Furthermore, the RR captain commended his bowling unit for restricting CSK to a below-par score despite a great start.
“We have a very young bowling lineup. We are missing Jofra and Sandeep. But the kind of temperament and planning shown by the young bowlers was heartening to see. They have a bright future. They are very young and promising. There has been lot of work going on. He (Akash Madhwal) has played only last four games. Shane Bond has been working closely with him. Rahul sir and others have seen how hard he has worked. We are all happy for him,” he added.
CSK were well placed to rack up a total in excess of 200, being at 170/6 at the end of 17 overs with Shivam Dube and MS Dhoni at the crease. However, Akash Madhwal (3/29) and Tushar Deshpande (1/33) pulled things back at the end, conceding just 17 runs in the last three overs.
Madwal was also adjudged Player-of-the-Match for his exceptional performance with the ball.