Chennai Super Kings (CSK) faced Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the 17th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Wednesday (April 12). RR emerged victorious in the thrilling encounter by a narrow margin of three runs.
Asked to bat first, Rajasthan posted a competitive total of 175/8 in their allotted 20 overs. Jos Buttler top-scored for the team with 52 runs off 36 balls, while Devdutt Padikkal and Ravichandran Ashwin also made significant contributions of 38 and 30 runs, respectively. Meanwhile, Akash Singh and Tushar Deshpande picked up two wickets each for CSK.
In response, CSK started off slowly and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Devon Conway was the standout performer with the bat for the Chennai-based team, with 50 runs off 38 balls. However, MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja almost turned the game in CSK’s favour by scoring quickfire runs towards the end of the game. Dhoni hammered 32 off 17 balls which included three sixes and one four. One of those three maximums came against RR’s Adam Zampa.
On the fourth ball of the 18th over, Zampa bowled an outside-off tossed-up delivery to Dhoni, which the CSK skipper deposited for a massive six over deep mid-wicket by kneeling down with a free swing of the bat. The crowd after the biggie from Dhoni soon went berserk, and the commentators were also heard lauding the 41-year-old cricketer.
Here’s the video
In the arc & out of the park! 💪 💪
That was one mighty hit from MSD 👏 👏
Follow the match ▶️ https://t.co/IgV0Ztjhz8#TATAIPL | #CSKvRR | @msdhoni | @ChennaiIPL pic.twitter.com/UU9cetHVHv
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 12, 2023
Despite Dhoni’s valiant effort, CSK fell three runs short of the target and finished at 172/6 in their 20 overs. On the other hand, Ashwin claimed two wickets for RR and conceded only 25 runs in his quota of four overs. Yuzvendra Chahal and Zampa also picked up two scalps each.
Notably, this was the third win for RR in the four matches they have played in the tournament so far. With the victory, they now moved up to the top position in the IPL 2023 points table. Ashwin was declared the ‘Player of the Match’ for his all-round performance in the contest.