Rajasthan Royals on Saturday stunned Chennai Super Kings by successfully chasing the target of 190 by losing just three wickets and 15 balls to spare. In another match, the Mumbai Indians’ woes continued as the side led by Rohit Sharma lost to Delhi Capitals by four wickets.
Batting first, Chennai Super Kings had made 189-4 in their quota of 20 overs with Ruturaj Gaikwad scoring an impressive century. Gaikwad made 101 in 60 balls with his knock including nine fours and five sixes.
However, equally batting display by Rajasthan Royals batsmen particularly Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shivam Dube made sure that they achieved the target without much trouble. Jaiswal made 50 while Dube was unbeaten at 64.
Reacting to his side’s shock defeat, Mahendra Singh Dhoni said, “It was a bad toss to lose to start off, but I feel the Royals batters batted really well. There was dew and the ball started coming on well, still you needed to bat well and that’s what they did. An ideal start in a tall chase where they took the game on in the PP. I think initially it was stopping a bit, which we saw with their wrist spinners. As the innings progressed, it started coming on well, Rutu’s was an outstanding knock.
“When you lose the game, it can get brushed under the carpet but he batted very well to get us up to 190. The batsmen need to assess quickly what a good score is. In T20s, you tend to go hard and then realise it’s not a 160-180 wicket. They’ve done it well, assessed really well. Dwayne and Deepak aren’t here, of course I missed them. Both of them are quite experienced. Once you start going after the bowlers, it paid off. We could’ve used the dimensions of the field better. Have to forget this, you can go through it in a tournament like this, learn what we could have done. The same thing can happen in the knockouts too, we’ve done it well, learning from each and every game. Don’t think we could’ve scored more than 190.”
In an earlier match, defending champions Mumbai Indians suffered another defeat, this time by Delhi Capitals. Batting first, Rohit Sharma’s side could only post 129-8 in 20 overs.
Delhi Capitals achieved the target in 19.1 overs by losing just six wickets.
Speaking about his side’s defeat, Rohit Sharma said after the match, “We knew it will be a difficult venue. We watched a lot of matches, and it’s not the easiest venues to play and make a lot of runs. We were well prepared and we knew what we had to do. I thought we didn’t bat well enough. We knew it wasn’t a 170-180 wicket, but we knew it was a 140 wicket. We just didn’t get the partnerships going. If your batters aren’t going to post runs on the board, it will be difficult to win games. I personally accept that. We’re not able to execute in the middle, which is particularly disappointing. We are not playing to our potential. Hopefully in the next two games, we play the way we are known for.”