All-round Ashwin stars as RR seal top-two finish

The Rajasthan Royals secured a second-place finish and booked their passage to Qualifier 1 against the Gujarat Titans with their thrilling five-wicket win over the Chennai Super Kings at the Brabourne Stadium. After Moeen Ali’s mesmeric 93 took Chennai to 150 for six on a two-paced surface, Rajasthan chased down the target with two balls to spare thanks to an excellent half-century from Yashasvi Jaiswal and an incredible cameo of 40* off 23 from Ravichandran Ashwin.

The Super Kings succumbed to their 10th defeat of the season against the Royals on Friday night, but the Chennai faithful had plenty to cheer for in the first innings with Moeen Ali at the crease. The left-hander walked in at the end of the first over after Ruturaj Gaikwad nicked off against Trent Boult and raced away to a 19-ball half-century inside the powerplay. The Englishman started his assault by smashing three fours and a six from Prasidh Krishna’s second over, which went for 18 runs, before taking another three boundaries against Ravichandran Ashwin in the fifth. Moeen clicked into another gear in the final over of the powerplay bowled by Trent Boult, smashing the Kiwi pacer for 26 runs and six boundaries to take CSK to 75 for one at the end of the first six.

However, after their blazing start in the powerplay, Chennai suffered an almighty slowdown through the middle. Ravichandran Ashwin started the RR fightback with the wicket of Devon Conway in the eighth over before N Jagadeesan and Ambati Rayudu managed just four runs between them as CSK slipped to 95 for 4.

With wickets falling at the other end, Moeen Ali was forced to temper his instincts and consolidate alongside MS Dhoni, and after scoring 59 runs in his first 21 deliveries, the left-hander managed just 34 in his next 36. Moeen was caught in the deep on 93 in the final over of the innings while MSD holed out to long-on for 26, as CSK managed just 30 runs in the last four overs to finish on 150 for 6.

In response, Jos Buttler’s poor second half of the tournament continued, but Yashasvi Jaiswal gave Rajasthan a flying start, scoring 31 of 17 to take the Royals to 52 for one at the end of the powerplay. However, similarly to CSK, the Royals lost their way against the spinners through the middle overs as Sanju Samson and Devdutt Padikkal fell in quick succession. Rajasthan threw a surprise by promoting R Ashwin ahead of Shimron Hetmyer, and the move paid dividends with the all-rounder smashing two sixes against Moeen Ali and Prashant Solanki to reduce the asking rate. 

Although Solanki dismissed Yashasvi Jaiswal and Hetmyer in consecutive overs to give CSK some hope of a victory, Ashwin came through for the Royals at the death, sharing an unbeaten 39-run stand with Riyan Parag to take Rajasthan home with two balls to spare.