Kolkata: Beyond the win and the two points, this match provided evidence that how big scoring patterns can still be disrupted by getting a few basics right.
A surface that doesn’t facilitate swinging through the arc. But more importantly pin-point, run-stifling bowling corridors that force batters to resort to backup plans.
Chennai Super Kings didn’t seem to have any though, as Rajasthan Royals bowled them out for 127 before chasing it in 12.1 overs with eight wickets to spare at Guwahati on Monday. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, 15, hammered a 17-ball 52 to send RR on their way to an impressive win on the home turf of new skipper Riyan Parag.
Royals hardly put a foot wrong on a lively pitch that been under covers because of rain. So comprehensive was their bowling that all six Royals bowlers got at least a wicket. Nandre Burger and Jofra Archer wreaked havoc with their left-right seam duopoly, Sandeep and Brijesh Sharma weighed in with staggered economical blows, Ravindra Jadeja scalped the top wickets of Sarfaraz Khan and Shivam Dube with Ravi Bishnoi complementing him.
Without MS Dhoni (calf injury) for the first time in ages, against a side that had brought back Ravindra Jadeja after 15 years, this was an uphill start as well as an opportunity for CSK. They flopped spectacularly, their innings reduced to a parade of batters going out and coming in. That is till Jamie Overton dug in his heels for a valiant 36-ball 43 that helped stitch 33 runs for the last wicket-Chennai’s highest ever for the 10th wicket-with Anshul Kamboj.
So confident were the Royals that they went in with only three overseas players, and after 10 overs of the game it seemed they could have managed with even two. Burger and Archer showed pace-bowling bonhomie with bouncers, cutters and full-pitched seamers that had CSK batters hopping. Burger’s left-arm pace from a height of nearly eight feet made an immediate impact, Sanju Samson and Ayush Mhatre dismissed in his first two overs. The occasion clearly got to young Mhatre, Burger softening him up with a bouncer that he tried to pull despite not getting enough swivel on his back foot. Samson’s dismissal had an element of theatre to it, the ball seaming away to beat a huge heave and crash into the stumps.
Samson’s dismissal should have prompted Ruturaj Gaikwad to drop anchor and navigate through the wobble. But the CSK captain lost patience after being denied runs and made room to attack Archer only to be bowled. Mathew Short looked lost but the real thrust of CSK’s batting was yet to come in the form of Sarfaraz and Dube. That’s where Jadeja’s experience and insight spelt the difference. To sweep Jadeja is always risky, especially on a sticky pitch. Backing himself to go big, Sarfaraz couldn’t connect and was plumb leg before.
Dube started off at a higher gear though, hammering Jadeja first-ball over long on for six to reinforce his middle-overs enforcer tag. But this innings was still in desperate need of a steadying hand that Jadeja had recognised immediately.
“I’ve known Dube for a long time. I’ve bowled to him in the nets, so I understand how he approaches spinners,” Jadeja told the broadcasters after CSK’s innings. “I was prepared for that (six) and tried to bowl outside off, because I knew he would look to play big shots against me,” he said. Another bait in the form of a wide, fuller delivery, and Dube couldn’t resist taking another swipe at it. This time though, he couldn’t clear the fielder at long off.
Caught in a downward spiral barring the breather from Overton, CSK’s innings ended up to be everything that shouldn’t be done when the conditions are overcast and the ball is doing things. As luck would have it, the pitch eased up considerably by the time RR came in to bat. Rubbing salt into the CSK wounds was a catch dropped off Vaibhav Sooryavanshi three balls into the innings-Kartik Sharma running back from midwicket got both hands to the ball but spilled it.
Sooryavanshi didn’t need a second invitation to go berserk. He pulled Matt Henry next ball for six, clobbered a slower ball for six again in his next over, picked consecutive fours off Kamboj before clearing his front leg to smash him for six. Two more sixes off spinner Noor Ahmad in the next over saw Sooryavanshi race to his fifty in just 15 balls while Yashasvi Jaiswal had laboured to 17 in 20 balls. A brilliant catch by Sarfaraz in the deep cut short that blinding innings in the next over. By then Royals were truly cruising.