Chennai's last-ball win
Faf du Plessis stroked his way to a 52-ball 73 but Chennai Super Kings had to wait till the very last ball before eking out a seven-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals in a thrilling Indian Premier League match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium yesterday.
Needing two runs off the last ball of the match, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni clipped Stuart Binny off his pads to help the Super Kings overhaul the target of 147 set by Rajasthan.
Chasing a modest 147 , the Super Kings were off to a sedate start as openers du Plessis and Subramaniam Badrinath (15) added 55 runs in eight overs.
Slow left-arm spinner Brad Hogg gave the visitors their first breakthrough when he had Badrinath stumped by Shreevats Goswami with a ball that had a bit of flight.
Du Plessis continued with his attacking game and, along with Suresh Raina, added 61 runs for the second wicket.
Raina scored 26 runs in 24 balls and hit three fours.
Kevon Cooper brought an end to du Plessis's innings having the batsman caught by Goswami.
Cooper then sent back Raina, thanks to Ajinkya Rahane's excellent catch in the deep, but skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja denied the visitors any further success while taking Chennai home.
Earlier, the Super Kings rode on a disciplined bowling display to restrict Rajasthan to a modest total despite a half century by Owais Shah.Electing to bat on what looked like a slow pitch, the Rajasthan Royals batsmen started off in brilliant fashion, scoring 15 runs off Dwayne Bravo's first over.
Ravichandran Ashwin gave his team a vital breakthrough when he dismissed an in-form Rahane (15) off the third ball of his spell. Rahane's dismissal brought Shah to the middle -- the English recruit took seven balls to open his account before hitting Shadab Jakati over the mid-on fence.
With the scorecard reading two for 50 after Dravid's dismissal at the end of the eighth over, the onus was again on Shah to take his team to a respectable total.
In the company of Menaria, he stitched a 92-run third-wicket partnership off just 65 balls to help the visitors post a modest total. Shah carried on his good work with yet another substantial knock, which helped his side to a respectable total, but not quite an imposing one.
SCORES IN BRIEF
RAJASTHAN ROYALS: 146 for 4 (Shah 52, Menaria 36, Dravid 26; Jakati 1-12, Kulasekara 1-17, Ashwin 1-19)
CHENNAI SUPER KINGS: 147 for 3 in 20 overs (du Plessis 73, Raina 26, Bravo 16 not out; Cooper 2-23, Hogg 1-18)
Result: Chennai Super Kings won by seven wickets.
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