IPL23 match no 17 RR vs CSK this match RR won by 3 runs. RAshwin (Player of the Match): "Isurprisepeople I guess. SometimesI am sent up to batand people are surprised that he has promotedhimself in the order, he just took it upon himselfbut that's a role given to me. We lost Sanju, Iwas expected to just go and play there. I am farbetterjudging my pace, when I want to go andnot in a hurry likeI really used to be before sotaking a few balls. I want to be there, understandthe situation and then utilize my strengths. Ihave my own strengths ifI try to overcome myweaknesses a lot that is when I really succumb.In every batting innings, I am padded up rightfrom the start. So I don't know when Iam goingand when I am asked to go. That's not preferablya role a batsman would enjoy but Iam okay withit because I don't get to bat very often so I'mnhappy.Its lot more mental I guess. I've been bowlingreally well. I came in froma good Test formn. Inbetween I was hurrying through the crease bitmore, not getting enough drop, not getting theball to work for me so Ijust feel like I'm gettingthe length right able to drop the ball, changethe pace. Usually I work realy hard during theIPL. I've just taken a backseat and the bowling istaking care of itself.Sanju Samson (Rajasthan Royals Captain): "Ithink we have to give credit to the boys. Chasingthat sort ofa score, in this sort of ground withthe dew factor around. The guys kept their cool.Almost every bowler contributed really well.Everyone was involved and wanted to win thisgame against CSK. We wanted to go back withhappy nmemories and I have never hada happymemory at Chepauk. But really happy with theeffort.not over till the last ball. We knew what MSD cando in the middle. I do a lot of planning anda lot otresearch with Our data team. Buta lotof calls havebeen taken inside the ground considering thesituation of the match. A lot of thoughts are goingaround. Nothing works for MS Dhoni."Yuzvendra Chahal (Rajasthan Royals): "In the firsthalf the way Jaddu bhai was bowling, the ball wasgripping. In the second half there was some dewand I didn't want to give easy deliveies and I hadto vary my pace.This is nmy 2nd season with Ash anna. Beforethat we have played together so we have a g0odbonding. Zamps have always done good forthe Australian team and was the player of thematch in the last Australia series. We share stamongst each other in the nets about how tobowl and talk between the match as well.Self belief is very important when Mahi bhai isbatting. In the last over Sandy backed himselfwith his yorker and didn't concede runs.Such wins impact the side. When it goes till theendand you get to know the effort neededespecially when the best finisher is battingand you win against him then its a differentmomentum. Such games boost you up for thenext matches."Sandeep Sharma (Rajasthan Royals): "Ijustwanted to execute the yorkers in the last overs. Iam bowling good yorkers in the nets and I triedto bowl yorkers at the heel. But it turned out tobe low full tosses and it went for maximums.Thereafter, I decided to change my plans andwent around the wicket. I tied to bowl yorkersto Jadeja from over the wicket and wanted tochange angles for Mahi bhai as he smashed mefor two maximums from the other angle."MS Dhoni (Chennai Super Kings Captain): "Ithink in the middle we lost the game. We needa bit more runs, we needed to rotate the strikemuch better in the middle overs. We can't beplaying that many dot balls as we played tonight.Once the set batters were there we needed tobe more proactive. If the pitch is gripping andturning square, then I can understand. But itwasn't troubling that much. The new batters couldcome and stroke properly. The batters shouldtake responsibility for tonight's loss. It affectsnet run rate in the last phase of the tourname...Hence taking a risk in the early phase would haveYou look at the field, at the bowler, andat whatthe bowler is trying to do, and then you just standthere and wait for them to make a mistake; if theybowl in good areas, good luck to them. I wouldwait for it, and that has worked for me; you needto back your strength, and my strength is hittingstraight. There was some dew, and once the ballreached the outfield, the batters found it easier.Overall, I was pleased with the bowlers. Theybowled well. I didn't really know that it was my 200th game asCSK captain. And it doesn't matter as well. What isthe difference between 199 and 200? It doesn'treally matter in the end. I took it as a normalgame. Yeah, nice to tick the milestones along. Itis all about how you are performing and what arethe results.": Another last ball thriller in theIndian Premier League as the Rajasthan Royalsmanage to score just 3 more runs than theChennai Super Kings to deposit their first victoryat the Chepauk Stadium. Sandeep Sharma, theexperienced swing bowler kept his calm in thefinal over to defend 21 runs.A poor outing with the bat from the CSK middleorder had Jadeja and Dhoni under the pumpto deliver the goods in the final 3 overs but thtarget was a bit too far from the men in yellowgrasp. Excellent composure from Sandeep as hemissed his lines and length in the first 3 balls butdid well to defend later.Quick recap to the game as Rajasthan Royalsposted 175/8 in their 20 overs failing to bankon the good start provided by Jos Buttler andDevdutt Padikkal after MS Dhoni won the tossin his 20Oth match as CSK captain and opted tobowl first. Padikkal was promising in the second-wicket partnership with Jos Buttler, which had 77runs added to the tally.While it looked like RR was dominating in themiddle, Ravindra ladeja initiated a CSK comebackby scalping Padikkal (38 off 26) and SanjuSamson (0 off 2) in the same over to reduce thePink Army to 88/3 in the 9th over. Ashwin (30off 22) clubbed a couple of lusty blows to CSKdebutant Akash Singh before being the youngseamer's maiden IPL wicket.Before getting out for 52 Buttler completed3000 IPL runs. Hetmyer (30* off 18) fired a fewboundaries in the slog overs to take the teamCSK didn't get a tidy start as their top scorerRuturaj Gaikwad was dismissed early in the 3rdover for just 8. Ajinkya Rahane (31 off 19) battingat number 3 carried his good form from theprevious game and added 68 runs with DevonConway for the second wicket.Wickets kept tumbling as the RR spinnersdominated with Ashwin getting the prized wicketof Rahane for the 5th time in IPL history. MoeenAli had a forgettable day in the field getting ofor 7 with impact player Ambati Rayudu gettir.yout seCond ball.Conway was the 6th to depart trying to up theante and finished at 50 in 38 balls. Jadeja andskipper MS Dhoni then joined forces to give thefinishing touches. The spinners Ashwin (2/25),Chahal (2/27) and Zampa (1/43) finished theirrespective spells by the end of 18 overs with theequation being 40 in 12 balls.Jadeja hit a couple of sixes and a four in the overbowled by Holder to bring the equation down21 in the final over. Sandeep Sharma startedtfinal over with a couple of wides under pressurebringing the equation to 19 off6 and then 19 off5 with a tremendous yorker but Dhoni got betterof him and smashed the 2nd and 3rd deliveries ofthe over for a sixes.Sharma turned the game around conceding just 3singles bowling brilliant yorkers to win the gamefor RR in the final over when 5 runs were neededoff the final ball. Sandeep finished with 1/30 withKuldeep Sen making his comeback in competitivecricket after December 2022 bowling a tidy 2-overspell conceding just 8 runs off it.