Rajasthan Royals beat Chennai Super Kings by 16 runs in their first match of IPL 2020 in Sharjah yesterday and kicked off their campaign on a winning note.

Earlier Chennai Super Kings won the toss and opted to field first. Rajasthan Royals lost debutant opener Yashasvi Jaiswal cheaply but Sanju Samson and Steven Smith counter-attacked and went on to smash all bowlers all over the park.

Samson hit sixes for fun and his 74 runs off 32 balls knock including 9 sixes set the platform for a big score. Captain Smith also played a good knock of 69 runs. In the end, Jofra Archer's cameo of 27* runs off 8 balls helped Rajasthan Royals to post 216/7 on the board.

In reply, Shane Watson and Murali Vijay gave a good start of 56 runs but spinners Rahul Tewatia and Shreyas Gopal brought their team back into the game by taking four wickets in a short span and reduced Chennai to 77/4 in 9 overs. Faf du Plessis and Kedar Jadhav took the score to over 100 runs but the required run rate was going up and when they needed over 100 runs in the last 7 overs, Faf du Plessis started playing big shots and smashed seven sixes and brought up his second consecutive fifty of this season.

He played 72 runs knock. In the last over Chennai needed 38 runs to win and captain Dhoni hit three sixes in a row and reduced the margin of loss. Sanju Samson was named Man of the Match. 

All the major stats and facts from the fourth match between Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings in Sharjah : 

9 - Number of sixes Sanju Samson hit in his 74 runs innings - the second most sixes by a Rajasthan Royals batsman in an innings in IPL.

Most Sixes in an innings for Rajasthan Royals in IPL -

10 - Sanju Samson vs RCB at Bangalore, 2018

9 - Sanju Samson vs CSK at Sharjah, 2020

8 - Yusuf Pathan vs MI at Mumbai, 2010

8 - Yusuf Pathan vs Deccan Chargers at Hyderabad, 2010

7 - Jos Buttler vs Delhi Capitals at Delhi, 2018

7 - Jos Buttler vs MI at Mumbai, 2019 

10 - This was the 10th win for Steven Smith as captain of Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League.

Most Wins as captain for Rajasthan Royals in IPL -

30 - Shane Warne (55 Matches)

18 - Rahul Dravid (34 Matches)

10 - Steven Smith (14 Matches)

9 - Ajinkya Rahane (24 Matches)

7 - Shane Watson (21 Matches) 

12 - Number of fifty-plus scores Faf du Plessis has scored for Chennai Super Kings in IPL - the third-most by a batsman.

Most Fifty Plus Scores for CSK in IPL -

33 - Suresh Raina

21 - MS Dhoni

14 - Michael Hussey

12 - Faf du Plessis

11 - S Badrinath

19 - Number of balls Sanju Samson took to score 50 runs - the joint second-fastest fifty for Rajasthan Royals in IPL in terms of balls.

Fastest Fifties for RR in IPL (By balls) -

18 - Jos Buttler vs DC at Delhi, 2018

19 - Sanju Samson vs CSK at Sharjah, 2020

19 - Owais Shah vs RCB at Bangalore, 2012 

33 - Total 33 sixes were hit by both Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings in this match - the joint-most sixes hit in an IPL match.

Most Sixes in a match in IPL -

33 - RCB vs CSK at Bangalore, 2018

33 - RR vs CSK at Sharjah, 2020

31 - CSK vs KKR at Chennai, 2018

31 - KXIP vs KKR at Indore, 2018

31 - DC vs GL at Delhi, 2017 

216/7 - Runs total is the fourth-highest total for Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League.

Highest Totals for Rajasthan Royals in IPL -

223/5 vs CSK at Chennai, 2010

217/7 vs Deccan Chargers at Hyderabad, 2008

217/4 vs RCB at Bangalore, 2018

216/7 vs CSK at Sharjah, 2020

211/5 vs CSK at Chennai, 2008

211/4 vs KXIP at Durban, 2009