Rana 81 in Royals win as CSK batting muddle continues

By Deivarayan Muthu, Mar 31 (ESPN CRICINFO): A blistering assault from Nitish Rana and Wanindu Hasaranga's clever wrist-spin bowling handed Rajasthan Royals (RR) their first win and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) their second successive defeat in IPL 2025.

Rajasthan Royals 182 for 9 (Rana 81, Parag 37, Noor 2-28, Pathirana 2-28) beat Chennai Super Kings 176 for 6 (Gaikwad 63, Hasaranga 4-35) by six runs

After Rana crashed 81 off 36 balls, joining RR's fastest half-centurions, Ruturaj Gaikwad anchored CSK's chase of 183 with a fifty of his own. But Hasaranga's variations, especially the wrong'un, exposed CSK's soft underbelly and put the target beyond their reach.

Though Ravindra Jadeja mounted a late charge against the seamers - he remained unbeaten on 32 off 22 balls - and the margin of victory was only six runs, RR were always ahead in the game.

Sandeep Sharma, picked ahead of Jofra Archer to defend 19 off the final over, had MS Dhoni holing out for 16 off 11 balls with his first legal ball of the over and finished the job for RR.

Rana aces his match-up against Ashwin

Riyan Parag had batted at No. 3 in RR's first two matches this season. On the eve of this game, coach Rahul Dravid had also backed Parag at that position, but they ended up bumping Rana to No. 3, at Parag's expense, to take advantage of a match-up with R Ashwin.

Before Sunday's fixture, Rana had hit 108 off 58 balls from Ashwin without being dismissed in the IPL. By the time, Ashwin was introduced into the attack, Rana had already run away to a swift start - 27 off 13 balls. He greeted the spinner with a sequence of 6, 6, 4 and continued to attack him. By the time Ashwin dismissed Rana for the first time in the IPL, off his 71st ball to him, Rana had extended his tally to 171. Ashwin had to dip into his old trick - pause and deliver - to have an advancing Rana stumped off an off side wide.

Rana made 58 of RR's 81 runs came in the powerplay, which offset low scores for Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sanju Samson.

CSK pull it back

Noor Ahmad, the left-arm wristspinner, struck in his first over when he had Samson caught at long-off for 20 off 16 balls. He proceeded to remove Dhruv Jurel for 3 off 7 balls and moved to the top of the purple cap leaderboard. Ravindra Jadeja bowled only two overs, but he did a good job himself by not conceding a single boundary.

Matheesha Pathirana and Khaleel Ahmed, who had dismissed Jaiswal in the powerplay, then slowed RR down even further in the end overs.

Shimron Hetmyer, who batted behind Hasaranga at No. 7, could've been out for 3 had IPL debutant Jamie Overton not dropped a skier. Overton's evening only got worse after he had leaked 30 runs from his first two overs in the powerplay. His bowling stint ended right there.

Hetmyer got to 19 off 16 balls before Pathirana drew another mis-hit, Ashwin hanging onto the skier this time. Pathirana and Khaleel gave away only 17 runs off the last three overs to keep RR below 190. They had looked good for a much bigger total, especially when Rana was on song.

CSK's go-slow

Archer and former Super King Tushar Deshpande, however, snatched the momentum away from CSK in the powerplay. Archer kicked off RR's defence with a wicket-maiden in which he had Rachin Ravindra nicking off a 145kph delivery that reared up off the deck for a duck. At the other end, Deshpande hit Gaikwad on his unprotected elbow.

Rahul Tripathi was going nowhere. He gave up his stumps only to swish and miss. When Archer bowled a slower legcutter, though, Tripathi got going with a six over short fine. Gaikwad then picked Sandeep off for three fours in the last over of the powerplay as CSK ended the phase with a more respectable 42 for 1, having been on 5 for 1 in three overs.

Hasaranga wrecks CSK's middle order

Hasaranga struck with his very first ball, having Tripathi holing out for 23 off 19 balls. With Hasaranga bowling in tandem with Maheesh Theekshana, CSK unleashed their Impact Player, Shivam Dube, on the spinners. Dube cracked two sixes off Hasaranga before the wrist-spinner had him chipping a wrong'un to cover, where Guwahati's very own Parag pulled off a spectacular, one-handed grab to cut Dube's innings short at 18 off 10 balls.

Vijay Shankar, who had replaced Deepak Hooda, failed to pick his first ball, a wrong'un from Hasaranga, which almost shaved the off stump. In his next over, though, he knocked Vijay over with a loopier wrong'un for 9 off 6 balls.

Gaikwad kept CSK in it with low-risk, high-percentage batting. He brought up a 37-ball half-century, his second in three games, but the lack of power at the other end ramped up the pressure on him. When Hasaranga dangled a wide leg break, Gaikwad could only drag it to long-on.

He left CSK needing 54 off 25 balls. It became 39 off 12 balls after Theekshana bowled a boundary-less 18th over to Dhoni and Jadeja. Dhoni then started the penultimate over, bowled by Deshpande, with a ramped four and then flat-batted the seamer over his head for six in a 19-run over, but they were left with too much to do in the end.

Archer, who had bowled three excellent overs in the powerplay, including a wicket-maiden, wasn't called to bowl at the death. Sandeep stepped up to have Dhoni holing out for 16 off 11 balls with a low full-toss, which sealed the deal.