The 43rd match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018 saw Rajasthan Royals (RR) face Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in a very special match. This encounter was the pink match for the hosts RR, who wore pink uniforms to raise awareness for getting medically checked for cancer.
CSK won the toss and Dhoni decided to bat first. CSK bought in Sam Billings and Karn Sharma, while Rajasthan bought in Ankit Sharma and gave a debut to Prashant Chopra.
Ambati Rayudu chopped the ball on his own stumps after scoring 12. Watson (39) and Raina (52 in 35 balls) added 86 runs for the 2nd wicket. Watson was dismissed by Archer, thanks to a brilliant catch by Buttler, while Raina was taken by Ish Sodhi, with Binny taking a simple catch.
MS Dhoni (33* in 23 balls) and Sam Billings (27) added 55 runs for the 4th wicket and in the end, CSK put up 176/4 in 20 overs. Jofra Archer picked 2/42 and Ish Sodhi picked 1/29 in their respective four overs for RR.
In a surprising move, RR opened with Buttler and Stokes, with Buttler going after the CSK bowlers. Stokes was bowled by Harbhajan for 11 and Jadeja removed Rahane for 4. Samson (21) and Buttler stabilized the innings a bit, but Samson sacrificed himself in a run out and then Chopra was dismissed by Shardul for 8 in his debut game.
It all came down to Buttler and Binny to take RR closer to the win and Binny did his part, scoring 22. It came down to 28 runs from 12 balls with Buttler still there, joined by K Gowtham, who won RR the match against MI previously in the tournament. Gowtham (13 in 4 balls) hit Willey for two sixes in the 19th over to bring the equation to 12 runs off last over bowled by Bravo.
Buttler (95* in 60 balls; 11 fours and 2 sixes) hit Bravo for a six and then took RR home by 4 wickets to keep them alive for the playoffs qualification. This was a crucial win for RR and CSK will rue the chances they missed in the last 5 overs of the game.
BRIEF SCORES:
CSK 176/4 (S RAINA 52; J ARCHER 2/42) lost to RR (J BUTTLER 95*; S THAKUR 1/22) by 4 wickets
