Defending champions Chennai Super Kings won their last game at home as they defeated Rajasthan Royals by five wickets in match 61 of Tata IPL 2024 on Sunday. This was their last league match at MA Chidambaram Stadium and they signed off with a terrific victory. This win added two precious points and brought CSK to number 3 in the IPL points table. This also means that their playoff aspirations are alive. As for the visitors Rajasthan, skipper Sanju Samson will need to introspect about the recent losses in the business end of the league stage.
As against their poor show in the match against Gujarat Titans, CSK’s bowling unit restricted RR to a sub-par total. Simarjeet Singh, who was adjudged ‘Player of the Match’ took three wickets and conceded just 26 runs. Tushar Deshpande bowled the last over and picked up two wickets. Riyan Parag was the top-scorer for RR as others fail to provide much needed boost to the innings. Later, captain Samson said that RR were 20-30 runs short than what they had hoped for.
In response, CSK chased down the target of 142 with 10 balls to spare. However, RR bowlers managed to drag down the match till the very end. Ruturaj Gaikwad remained unbeaten with his knock of 42 runs in 41 balls. Ravindra Jadeja was dismissed for obstructing the field. Jadeja is the third player in the history pf IPL to be given such a dismissal.
Ravichandran Ashwin (35-2) brought RR back in the game briefly. Yuzvendra Chahal and Nandre Burger also picked up 1 wicket each. Though Chepauk crowd was disappointed to not see MS Dhoni on strike, the win did put smile on their faces.