Rajasthan Royals 159 for 8 (Rahane 70, Bravo 3-26) beat Chennai Super Kings 145 for 8 (Ashwin 46, Tambe 3-10) by 14 runs
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Pravin Tambe
scripted the most remarkable chapter in his brief Twenty20 career, as
he scuttled the Chennai Super Kings chase with a canny spell of legspin
bowling that reaped 3 wickets for 10 in four overs. Super Kings began
poorly in pursuit of 160, failing to eclipse the required rate in the
Powerplay, as both openers were run out, but Tambe ensured the dangerous
men below would not prosper, as he and the seamers gleaned a wicket per
over between the 9th and 13th overs of the innings.
At the innings break, Royals may perhaps have felt their 159 for 8 was
at least ten runs light at a traditionally high-scoring venue, but
despite a desperate R Ashwin salvo towards the finish, the hosts
extended their winning streak at home to 13 victories. A fluid Ajinkya
Rahane scored 70 from 56 balls, which helped set up the 14-run win, with
the Royals finishing the year unbeaten in Jaipur.
Tambe extracted no alarming turn from the hard surface, but succeeded
instead by pushing his legbreaks through quickly at the batsmen's legs.
The Super Kings batsmen were tentative in his first over, and when
Badrinath ran past one that kept low in Tambe's next over, the visitors
were even more reluctant to take him on
.
He trapped Dwayne Bravo in front with a slider in the following over,
after Rahul Shukla had done MS Dhoni in with a beauty at the other end,
then effectively delivered the coup de grace by removing Suresh Raina,
who had been the only top order batsman to produce a start. When Tambe
began his spell, Super Kings were 41 for 2 after 6 overs, and when he
finished, they were 73 for 7 after 13.
Ashwin swung bravely at the seam bowlers, whose standards dipped after
the middle overs, but his team had already surrendered too much ground.
He and Chris Morris got Super Kings to within 23 runs off victory before
the 20th over, and although Ashwin struck the first ball for six, he
fell on the fourth delivery, having struck three fours and three sixes
in his 28-ball 46.
Rahane arrived with consecutive fifties behind him, and his abiding fine
touch was plain to see in the first over, when he strode down the pitch
to send Ravindra Jadeja into the sightscreen. He lay low for several
overs after that, as he collected runs into the outfield, but unfurled
his attacking strokes again in the company of Shane Watson, with whom he
put on 59 for the fourth wicket.
He found gaps in the covers often, and when the ball suited him, Rahane
hit inside-out above the infield as well. An advancing drive over extra
cover in the ninth over was followed three overs later by a graceful
blow that carried the ball well over the cover rope and a fluent drive
in the same direction. In between, the wayward yorkers were glanced to
the fine leg fence and the short balls dispatched square on the leg side
The Super Kings attack was disciplined at the finish however. Royals
were placed at 141 for 4 at the end of the 17th over, looking set for a
score in excess of 170, but could only muster 18 more runs, surrendering
three wickets in Dwayne Bravo's final over.
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Our batting lacked calmness - Stephen Fleming
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Andrew Fidel Fernando is ESPNcricinfo's Sri Lanka correspondent. He tweets here
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