Rajasthan Royals clinched a thrilling six-run victory over Chennai Super Kings to bring up their first win of IPL 2025. Starring with the bat for the Royals was Nitish Rana who hit a powerful 81 before Wanindu Hasaranga helped defend the total with crucial strikes right through .

Where was the match won?
While Rana’s onslaught in the powerplay set RR up to get a total that was above-par, CSK had managed to pull things back at the back-end. In the chase, however, RR managed to keep things in control with regular strikes right through. The chief architect of that was Wanindu Hasaranga who struck at important junctures not allowing CSK to get away.

RAJASTHAN ROYALS

Powerplay – Nitish Rana runs amok
Phase score – 79/1 [RR: 13.16; 4s/6s: 9/5]

Nitish Rana found himself coming in just the first over of the innings after Yashasvi Jaiswal chipped a simple catch to mid off. What had started off well for Khaleel Ahmed and CSK, who had opted to bowl, soon took a turn for the worse. Rana hit the second ball he faced for a boundary to get going. Jamie Overton, making his IPL debut, was carted for 14 runs in his first over and 16 in his next as CSK struggled to get their lengths right. In a bid to shake up things, R Ashwin was brought in but Rana employed the sweep behind square to good effect as RR picked up 19 in that over. Khaleel erred in lengths once again in his third over of the powerplay and allowed Rana to cash in further on a surface that was not offering much for the bowlers. Out of RR’s 79 inside the powerplay, Rana alone accounted for 58.

Middle overs – Spinners pull things back for CSK
Phase score – 66/4 [RR: 7.33; 4s/6s: 4/2]

Rana remained CSK’s biggest threat from one end but Noor Ahmed managed to strike straightaway at the other bagging a well-set Sanju Samson caught at long off. It helped apply the brakes on the scoring-rate although RR had a good base already. Rana though was taking one of CSK’s main weapon in R Ashwin out sweeping him for another four and a six when the offspinner returned. But Ashwin had the last laugh throwing one wide when Rana danced down the track early to be stumped for a 36-ball 81. This helped further CSK’s cause as they applied the squeeze through their spinners. Both Ahmed and Ravindra Jadeja chipped in getting Dhruv Jurel and Wanindu Hasaranga caught off mishits as CSK bounced back successfully.

Death overs – RR stutter at the finish
Phase score – 37/4 [RR: 7.4; 4s/6s: 2/2]

Riyan Parag and Shimron Hetmyer, who was dropped first ball, were the only other batters from RR who found the boundaries apart from the top-order. But neither could get them at the frequency that RR would have liked. Parag was yorked by Pathirana in the 18th over while Hetmyer was caught in the final over. Through it all CSK stitched together overs without boundaries that helped keep them in the game. RR still managed to get past 180 thanks to the initial onslaught from Rana.

CHENNAI SUPER KINGS

Powerplay – Blows exchanged in tight phase
Phase score – 42/1 [RR: 7; 4s/6s: 6/1]

The Guwahati pitch began to assist the pacers more as the game progressed and both Jofra Archer and Tushar Deshpande extracted appreciable bounce from it straihgtaway. The former got one of the balls to kick up and angled across Rachin Ravindra to have him caught behind. Shot-making was not easy through the line in this phase with Ruturaj Gaikwad also being struck on the elbow once. After Archer’s maiden over to start, CSK had put on only 5 on the board after the first three overs. But gradually both Gaikwad and Rahul Tripathi found other ways to get the boundaries. They began to use the pace behind square on the onside and put the bowlers off their lengths. As a result, CSK got some useful boundaries in the latter half of the powerplay which helped get the chase back on track.

Middle overs – Hasaranga keeps CSK in check
Phase score – 80/3 [RR: 8.88; 4s/6s: 6/3]

This was a phase of play that CSK were threatening to break free with wickets in hand. But Rajasthan were almost single-handedly kept in the game by Wanindu Hasaranga’s three strikes through the middle overs. He struck with his first ball having Tripathi caught at deepmidwicket. But CSK had their best spin-hitter in Shivam Dube walk in and he took the attack straight back to Hasaranga hitting him for a six down the ground. He continued the onslaught in Hasaranga’s next over hitting him for a four and a six, readying to get that one big over that could tilt the equation. But Dube fell immediately after thanks to a magical catch at cover by a diving Riyan Parag. But CSK hit back through their skipper Gaikwad who picked up three boundaries off Kumar Kartikeya to keep the run-rate up. When he needed more support at the other end, Vijay Shankar briefly promised to do so hitting Hasaranga for a six but only to be fooled by a googly off the very next ball. Gaikwad brought up his fifty soon after but heading into the final five overs, CSK needed 61 with a set Gaikwad being their biggest bet.

Death overs – CSK fall just short
Phase score – 54/2 [RR: 10.8, 4s/6s: 2/4]

Hasaranga once again played his part in the final overs with Gaikwad trying to take charge. CSK’s captain managed to tonk Hasaranga down the ground for a crucial six but became the legspinner’s fourth victim of the night when he holed out to long on next ball to fall for 63. Hasaranga finished with figures of 4-35 and ensured that he played a major part in RR’s defence of a middling total. For CSK, the onus lied on Ravindra Jadeja and MS Dhoni to make a match out of this in the final stages of the game. RR got back Matheesha Theekshana for the 18th over and the spinner conceding only six with no boundaries, leaving CSK needing 39 off 12. Both the experienced campaigners picked up a six apeice from Tushar Deshpande’s penultimate over and got 19 in all leaving Sandeep Sharma to defend 20 in the final over. Interestingly, RR had turned to him even though jofra Archer [3-1-13-1] had an over left. But to their relief, Sharma saw Dhoni drag a low full toss wide of deepmidwicket where Hetmyer took a sharp running catch under pressure. Sharma saw off the threat from debutant Overton, who lofted him for one six, to eventually take RR home as CSK fell 6 runs short.

Brief Scores:
Rajasthan Royals 182/9 in 20 overs (SanjuSamson 20, Nitish Rana 81, Riyan Parag 37, Shimron Hetmyer 19; Khaleel Ahmed 2-38, Ravichandran Ahwin 1-46, Noor Ahmed 2-28, Matheesha Pathirana 2-28, Ravindra Jadeja 1-10) beat Chennai Super Kings 176/6 in 20 overs (Rahul Tripathy 23, Ruturaj Gaikwad 63, Shivam Dube 18, Ravindra Jadeja 32*, MS Dhoni 16, Jamie Overton 11*; Wanindu Hasaranga 4-35, Jofra Archer 1-13, Sndeep Sharna 1-42) by 6 runs

What next?

Both teams have a five day-gap before their next encounter on April 05 when CSK host the Delhi Capitals while Rajasthan Royals go to Mullanpur to take on the Punjab Kings on the same day.