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Jadeja’s Heroics Give CSK IPL Glory

With this thrilling win, the MS Dhoni-led CSK has now equalled Mumbai Indians’ record for most (five) IPL titles…reports Asian Lite News

Star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja smashed a six and four in the last two balls and along with vital contributions from other batters helped Chennai Super Kings beat Gujarat Titans by five wickets (via DLS method) in the rain-affected rescheduled final of the 2023 season to clinch a record-equalling fifth Indian Premier League title at the Narendra Modi Stadium, here on Monday night.

With this thrilling win, the MS Dhoni-led CSK has now equalled Mumbai Indians’ record for most (five) IPL titles. The 41-year-old Dhoni also became the joint-most successful captain (titles in 2010, 2011, 2018, 2021, 2023) in tournament history along with Rohit Sharma (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2022).

A sensational quick-fire fifty from Sai Sudharsan (96 off 41) along with Wriddhiman Saha’s vital half-century (54 off 39) powered Gujarat Titans to 214/4 in 20 overs.

Sudharsan looked flawless throughout his innings and played some breathtaking shots against an indisciplined bowling line-up. Apart from Sudharsan and Saha, the likes of Shubman Gill (39 off 20) and Hardik Pandya (21 off 12) also made vital contributions with the bat.

Chasing a mammoth target, CSK scored four runs in the first three balls of the innings with openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway at the crease before rain intervened and stopped the play. When the play resumed at 12:10 am after a long delay due to a wet outfield, the revised target for CSK was to chase 171 runs in 15 overs.

Both Conway and Gaikwad came with an attacking mindset and gave CSK a flying start. They played some beautiful shots and hammered Md Shami, Hardik Pandya and even Rashid Khan and took CSK to 52/0 in the revised four-over Power-play.

Gujarat Titans badly needed a wicket and left-armer spinner Noor Ahmed gave them the crucial breakthrough by removing Gaikwad (26 off 16). Not only Gaikwad, but the young Afghan spinner also got rid of the dangerous-looking Conway to put CSK on the back foot.

Two new batters — Impact Substitute Shivam Dube and Ajinkya Rahane — were at the crease and had a massive task ahead of them. As has been the case with Rahane this season, he once again showed his class and played some exquisite strokes to give the much-needed impetus to CSK innings.

Though Dube was struggling to get his timing right, Rahane was in fine touch and took CSK to 112 for 2 in 10 overs. Just when it looked like CSK were cruising towards the target, veteran Mohit Sharma bowled with a great change of pace to pile up the pressure of dots and singles to eventually lure Rahane (27 off 13 balls)

The see-saw battle continued as Dube finished off Rashid’s over with two successive sixes, leaving the four-time champions to chase 38 runs off the last 18 balls. Thereafter, Ambati Rayudu, who was playing his last IPL game, went on to hit 6, 4, 6 against Mohit to dwarf the target, but he got out of the next ball.

Dhoni walked in to bat with 22 needed off 14 and he had the chance to pull off the perfect ending but it wasn’t to be as the CSK skipper hit the ball straight to cover for a first-ball duck. Shami then bowled a fine penultimate over to leave Mohit to defend 13 in six balls as Dube and Jadeja were not able to find boundaries.

Ahmedabad, May 30 (ANI): Chennai Super Kings’ skipper MS Dhoni lifts Ravindra Jadeja in celebration after winning the final match of Indian Premier League 2023 as CSK beat Gujarat Titans by 5 wickets, at Narendra Modi Stadium, in Ahmedabad on Tuesday. (ANI Photo/ Digital Restriction)

Mohit Sharma bowled excellent yorkers and gave just three runs in the first four balls. But Jadeja had other plans and he hit a six and four in the last two balls to give CSK a thrilling five-wicket win and record fifth title.

Earlier, asked to bat first, openers Gill and Saha were a bit cautious in their approach in the first two overs against Deepak Chahar and Tushar Deshpande and were helped by some sloppy fielding as well.

In the second over of the innings bowled by Deshpande, CSK skipper M.S. Dhoni placed Deepak Chahar at backward square and Gill hit the ball exactly there but the pacer couldn’t catch it, which changed the momentum in Gujarat’s favour.

From there on, both Chahar and Deshpande were taken on by Gill and Saha. Even spinner Maheesh Theeksana, who came to bowl the sixth over, was treated severely as Gujarat Titans raced to 62/0 at the end of the Power-play.

It was Ravindra Jadeja who gave CSK their first breakthrough by removing the dangerous Gill, courtesy of a typically quick and incredible glovework from Dhoni. Gill dragged his back leg out and with the speed at which Dhoni operates, there was just no time for the batter to even consider getting back into the crease.

After Gill’s wicket, things slowed down a bit for the Gujarat batters — Saha and Sai Sudharsan. The CSK spinners, Jadeja and Theeksana, were getting some assistance from the pitch as the Titans reached 86/1 at the halfway mark.

With 10 overs to go and nine wickets in hand, Sai and Saha decided to up the ante, scoring 23 in the next two overs off Jadeja and Matheesha Pathirana, giving some impetus to Titans’s innings. Saha, who came to open the innings and looked confident from the beginning, hit a Jadeja delivery between short third and backward point to score his fifty off 36 balls.

Things were going quite well for Gujarat and Dhoni brought Deepak Chahar into the attack. The pacer, who didn’t have a great night in the field, got Saha to top-edge a pull and Dhoni took a simple catch, leaving Gujarat at 131/2 after 14 overs.

Sai Sudharsan was a touch slow through the lull in the middle overs but then decided to tee off. The left-handed batter had skipper Hardik Pandya at the other end but he took the mantle of scoring runs at a high pace. Some poor bowling from Theekshana and Pathirana also helped his cause as Sudharsan raced away to fifty off 32 balls.

After reaching his half-century, Sudharsan became even more aggressive and clobbered Deshpande for 20 runs in an over, with the help of one six and three fours. Gujarat were 173/2 in 17 overs and looked all set to get a big total on the board.

The next over bowled by Pathirana gave Gujarat just nine runs but Tushar Deshpande was taken to the cleaners by Pandya and Sai Sudharsan for 18 runs as nothing was going well for CSK bowlers against a formidable Titans batting line-up.

Pathirana came to bowl the last over and he was welcomed by sixes in the first two balls. However, the Sri Lankan pacer had the last laugh as he trapped Sudharsan in front of the wicket, ending the left-hander’s batting carnage and denying him the chance to score his maiden IPL century.

In the next three balls, Pathirana gave just two runs and also removed Rashid Khan as Gujarat Titans finished with 214/4 on the board.

Brief scores:

Gujarat Titans 214/4 in 20 overs (Sai Sudharsan 96, Wriddhiman Saha 54; Matheesha Pathirana 2-44) Chennai Super Kings 171/5 in 15 overs (revised target) (Devon Conway 47, Ajinkya Rahane 27, Shivam Dube 32 not out, Ravindra Jadeja 15 not out; Mohit Sharma 3-36, Noor Ahmad 2-17) by five wickets via DLS method.

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Four times champions CSK vs Defending champions Titans

Interestingly both these sides had kicked off the season at the same venue, so IPL 2023 has come full circle….reports Asian Lite News

In a battle between mentor Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his protege Hardik Pandya, the four times champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will lock horns with defending champions Gujarat Titans in the all-important final of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 at Narendra Modi Stadium, here on Sunday.

Interestingly both these sides — CSK and GT — had kicked off the season at the same venue, so IPL 2023 has come full circle.

The Titans had beaten CSK in the opening game. However, earlier this week, CSK levelled the score with a comprehensive win in Qualifier 1 in Chennai. And now, it’s time for the final showdown between the two teams, which are built around the same philosophy.

If one observes closely, both these teams keep things simple, back their players, and create a relaxed team environment. Even Hardik Pandya has praised the CSK team environment recently but on the field, he will look to trump Dhoni.

Pandya has always said he has learnt a lot, not just about cricket but also life, from Dhoni and there is a brotherly relationship and mutual admiration between the two. After losing Qualifier 1 to CSK, Pandya lauded Dhoni’s captaincy.

“That’s the beauty about Dhoni. With his mind and the way he uses the bowlers, it fee’s like he’s adding 10 runs. We kept losing wickets, he kept changing the bowlers, credit to him. Would be nice to meet him on Sunday,” Pandya had said after the game.

Sunday’s game will be Dhoni’s 11th IPL final (his tenth with CSK) and no player has featured in more summit clashes. On the other hand, Pandya has been a part of five finals before 2023, with an amazing record of winning on all occasions (four with Mumbai Indians and one with Gujarat Titans)

Meanwhile, CSK will have a chance to equal the historic number (five) of titles with Mumbai Indians while Titans, who surprised everyone by emerging as champions in their debut season, will be keen to make it two in two.

As far as playing combinations are concerned, both teams are expected to be unchanged. The focus will be once again on Shubman Gill, who is in red-hot form and would love to continue that in the summit clash. For CSK, Deepak Chahar’s swing will be vital to counter Gill, who needs 123 runs to break Virat Kohli’s record for most runs (973) in an IPL season.

On the other hand, Titans pacer Mohammed Shami has a favourable match-up against Devon Conway and Ruturaj Gaikwad. He has dismissed Conway three times in three innings, with the Kiwi batter managing just five runs across 12 balls. Gaikwad has never fallen to Shami but has scored at a strike rate of just 69.69 (46 off 66 balls) against him.

There are many other interesting match-ups between the players of both sides and it will be interesting to see how it plays out on a high-scoring venue.

Overall this IPL, teams batting first have been more successful, winning 40 games and losing 32 so far. Given it’s the final, and dew is not expected to play a big role, both Titans and CSK may prefer having runs on the board.

Squads:

Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (c), Ravindra Jadeja, Tushar Deshpande, Matheesha Pathirana, Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ambati Rayudu, Subhranshu Senapati, Simarjeet Singh, Deepak Chahar, Akash Singh, Prashant Solanki, Maheesh Theekshana, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Dwaine Pretorius, Mitchell Santner.

Gujarat Titans: Mohammed Shami, Abhinav Sadarangani, Rahul Tewatia, Noor Ahmad, R Sai Kishore, Jayant Yadav, Hardik Pandya (c), Vijay Shankar, Darshan Nalkande, Yash Dayal, Alzarri Joseph, Shubman Gill, Pradeep Sangwan, David Miller, Wriddhiman Saha, Matthew Wade, B Sai Sudarshan.

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Chennai thrash Delhi by 27 runs

CSK bowlers maintained the stranglehold on the Capital batters to restrict them to 140/8 and notched their seventh win of the tournament…reports Asian Lite News

Skipper MS Dhoni’s late cameo (20 off 9) followed by a clinical show from the bowlers lead Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to a comfortable 27-run win over Delhi Capitals (DC) in an IPL 2023 game at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, here on Wednesday.

Delhi spinners were at their best as they kept the CSK batters at bay with six batters crossing 20 and the highest individual score was 25. But Dhoni’s crucial cameo ensured CSK finished with a fighting total of 167/8 in 20 overs.

In reply, Delhi got off to a dismal start as they lost their openers in the Powerplay. Then, Riley Rossouw and Pandey steadied the ship and built a 59-run stand. But CSK bowlers maintained the stranglehold on the Capital batters to restrict them to 140/8 and notched their seventh win of the tournament.

Chasing 170, Delhi Capitals suffered early blows as Deepak Chahar struck in the very first over to remove skipper David Warner for a second ball duck. Phil Salt flicked away to the deep backward square for a boundary and stepped down and played a pull shot for a six in the second over to pump up the start.

He continued with his hit as he hammered Chahar for a six but the pacer was quick to bounce on the next delivery and removed the Salt for 17. DC lost both the openers within three overs.

The next over Mitchell Marsh and Manish Pandey got a huge mix up between the wickets while looking for a single. Ajinkya Rahane smartly ran to the bowler’s end and flicked the bails off and March got run out. DC were reeling 27-3 in four overs.

Riley Rossouw and Pandey took a couple of boundaries and maximum to take the Powerplay score to 47-3.

CSK bowlers were building pressure with their clinical bowling with just two big hits coming in the next four overs. The duo of Rossouw and Pandey steadied the innings as they kept rotating the strike to keep the scoreboard reeling.

The duo built a 59-run stand, which Matheesha Pathirana broke by dismissing Pandey for 27. The latter greeted Pathirana with a six in the 13th over but the pacer had a quick comeback as he got the former for lbw on the last ball of the over.

An over later, Jadeja came into the attack and got the set batter Rossouw, who sat on a knee to go for a slog sweep but ended up mis-hitting to long-on where Pathirana took a safe catch.

With the asking run-rate going over 18 runs per over, Axar Patel went for few big hits to release some pressure but was removed in the 18th over as Pathirana deceived him with a slower delivery.

When 48 was needed in 12 balls, Tushar Deshpande bowled a brilliant 19th over, conceding just five runs. Also, DC lost Ripal Patel through runout and the chase almost came to an end as the visitors needed 43 off the 6 balls to win.

Lalit Yadav hammered Pathirana for three boundaries in the final over and pacer cleaned up Yadav on the penultimate delivery as CSK wrapped up a 27-run win.

Earlier, batting first, CSK lost the in-form opener Devon Conway early in the Powerplay. It was Axar Patel who got the big fish for lbw. Then, Ajinkya Rahane and Ruturaj Gaikwad took the Powerplay score to 49/1.

Axar delivered another blow to CSK as he got rid of Gaikwad in the next over. Kuldeep Yadav struck in the 10th over to dismiss Moeen Ali and CSK were reduced to 66-3 halfway through the innings.

Soon, Lalit Yadav caught & bowled Rahane to pile up further miseries on CSK. Then, Dube and Ambati Rayudu hit the foot on paddle to turn the momentum, collecting 23 runs off the 13th over and CSK crossed the 100-run mark.

Mitchell Marsh removed dangerous looking Debe on a slower delivery and half of the Chennai side was back to the pavilion. Couple of overs later, Khaleel Ahmed removed Rayudu and CSK stumbled further.

Then the Chepauk crowd went mad and welcomed Dhoni to the crease with a loud cheer. In the penultimate over of the innings bowled by Khaleel, Dhoni smashed two sixes and a boundary, taking 21 off the over and CSK reached 160-6.

Jadeja began the last over well with a boundary, the next ball he miscued his shot and handed an easy catch to the long-on fielder, ending a crucial 38-run partnership. Two balls later, Marsh put an end to Dhoni’s fine cameo as CSK eventually posted 167/8 in 20 overs.

Brief score: Chennai Super Kings 167/8 in 20 overs (Shivam Dube 25 off 12, MS Dhoni 20 off 9; Mitchell Marsh 3/18, Axar Patel 2/27) beat Delhi Capitals 140/8 in 20 overs (Rilee Rossouw 35 off 37, Manish Pandey 27 off 29; Matheesha Pathirana 3/37, Deepak Chahar 2/28) by 27 runs.

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Chennai stun Kolkata, back on top

Electing to bowl first, Kolkata used four bowlers in Power-play. But none of them were able to stop the glorious pair of Conway and Ruturaj Gaikwad…reports Asian Lite News

Devon Conway smashed his fourth consecutive fifty of IPL 2023 while Ajinkya Rahane dazzled with an unbeaten 29-ball 71 and Shivam Dube slammed a quick 21-ball fifty to propel Chennai Super Kings to the top of the points table with ten points through an emphatic 49-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens on Sunday.

In front of a crowd which was a sea of yellow, Conway continued his impressive show while Dube attacked the spinners effortlessly and Rahane went after both pace and spin, timing his shots magnificently as Chennai posted the highest IPL score at this venue and against Kolkata.

In reply, Jason Roy and Rinku Singh struck valiant half-centuries, but they were not enough as Kolkata ended up at 185/8, crashing to their fourth straight defeat of the competition. After Chennai had a blistering 73-run opening partnership, Rahane and Dube shared a fantastic stand of 85 runs off 32 balls for the third wicket.

The four-time champions had their plans bang-on in taking Kolkata’s bowling attack to cleaners by hitting 18 sixes and 14 fours in their innings, with leg-spinner Suyash Sharma being the standout bowler for the hosts with his spell of 1-29.

Electing to bowl first, Kolkata used four bowlers in Power-play. But none of them were able to stop the glorious pair of Conway and Ruturaj Gaikwad. While Gaikwad got streaky boundaries off an inside edge and top edge, Conway was like a Ferrari in top gear.

He began by swiping across the line over deep square leg for six off David Wiese, followed by using his feet to hammer Varun Chakaravarthy down the ground for another maximum. Conway easily pulled Wiese for four and was lucky to get a boundary despite mistiming a drive.

After Conway sliced hard off Kulwant Khejroliya for four to bring the fifty of the opening partnership, Gaikwad swung him hard for six and then cut Sunil Narine for a glorious four through extra cover, followed by a magnificent inside-out loft over the same region for six.

Kolkata finally broke the partnership when Suyash got a googly to turn in from outside the off-stump and got a bit of dip to rattle Gaikwad’s off-stump. Conway marched on to dance down the pitch and launched Narine for a six over long-on, bringing up his fifty in 34 balls. He then followed it up by nailing a slog-sweep off Chakaravarthy as Chennai brought up their hundred in the 11th over.

His knock ended in the 13th over when he smashed straight to long-off on a wide delivery from Chakaravarthy. Chennai cancelled out the effect of Conway’s fall as Dube smashed two huge sixes in the leg-side in the same over.

Rahane joined the boundary-hitting party by smashing two sixes and a four off Umesh in the 14th over yielding 22 runs, with the one timed over deep backward square leg for a maximum off the bowler’s pace being the standout.

Dube muscled a six off Wiese over long-on and followed it up by slapping past mid-off for four. Post the fifty-run stand coming in just 16 balls, Dube swung through the line to send Suyash over long-on for six.

Rahane welcomed Andre Russell by pulling him for six and four in the 17th over to bring up his fifty in 24 balls. In the next over, Dube got his fifty in 20 balls with a magnificent pulled six, before holing out to long-off on the very next ball.

But Rahane continued to sizzle, bringing out a cheeky scoop off Khejroliya and then danced down the pitch twice to smash consecutive sixes off Chakaravarthy while cutting through cover for four to take 19 runs off the 19th over. Ravindra Jadeja muscled two sixes off Khejroliya in the final over, before holing out to a deep backward square leg, as Chennai crossed the 230-mark.

In reply, Kolkata lost Sunil Narine and N. Jagadeesan in the first two overs. Nitish Rana and Venkatesh Iyer shared a decent 45-run standoff 35 balls before Moeen Ali struck on his first ball by trapping the latter plumb lbw.

Roy came out to bat at five after injuring his ankle earlier while fielding and began with a hat-trick of sixes by sweeping twice and reverse-sweeping once. After Rana slog-swept straight to deep mid-wicket off Jadeja, Roy powerfully swept and sliced off him for six and four respectively, while Rinku slammed another six as 19 runs came off the 11th over.

He then pulled and swung for more boundaries to reach his fifty in 19 balls with a slice past third man for four. Roy went on hit Theekshana for back-to-back fours in the 15th over. But the off-spinner had the last laugh as he castled Roy with a beautiful carrom ball which had some dip.

Despite Andre Russell and Umesh Yadav getting caught in the deep while David Wiese was trapped lbw, Rinku continued to smash boundaries and get his fifty in 30 balls to keep the losing margin below 50 runs.

Brief scores:

Chennai Super Kings 235/4 in 20 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 71 not out, Devon Conway 56, Shivam Dube 50; Kulwant Khejroliya 2-44, Suyash Sharma 1-29) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 186/6 in 20 overs (Jason Roy 61, Rinku Singh 53 not out; Maheesh Theekshana 2-32, Tushar Deshpande 2-43) by 49 runs

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Chennai survive Bangalore storm

With this win, CSK moved into the third spot with six points from five matches, tied with Lucknow Super Giants, Gujarat Titans and Punjab Kings with the same number of points…reports Asian Lite News

Breezy half-centuries by Devon Conway and Shivam Dube and a fine 3-45 by pacer Tushar Deshpande in a high-scoring match helped Chennai Super Kings prevail over Royal Challengers Bangalore by eight runs in a run-feast at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Monday.

After CSK had lost the prolific Ruturaj Gaikwad early, Conway and Ajinkya Rahane (37 off 20) repaired the innings and then Dube joined the fun as Chennai sent the RCB bowlers on a leather hunt after being asked to bat first on a good pitch that was expected to ease further with the dew set in.

Conway blasted a 43-ball 83, hitting six boundaries and six maximums as he and Dube, who smacked 52 off 27, smashed two fours and six maximums as CSK set up a big score of 226/6 in 20 overs. Conway first put on 74 runs for the second wicket with Rahane then shared an 80-run partnership with Dube.

Deshpande then got into the act after Glenn Maxwell and Faf du Plessis had struck brilliant half-centuries as RCB raced to 140/3 in 12 overs. He claimed two wickets in that crucial period sending back the dangerous Dinesh Karthik (28 off 14) and Wayne Parnell (2).

Glenn Maxwell and Faf du Plessis’ efforts went in vain as RCB were restricted to 218/8 in 20 overs, falling short by eight runs.

With this win, CSK moved into the third spot with six points from five matches, tied with Lucknow Super Giants, Gujarat Titans and Punjab Kings with the same number of points. Rajasthan Royals lead the table with eight points from five matches.

But in the end, their efforts went in vain as Chennai Super Kings chipped in with timely wickets thanks to Deshpande and Matheesha Pathirana (2-42) and went on to win the match despite mixed efforts in the field as they dropped five catches, Theekshana putting down two, and Rahane pulling off a couple of good saves at the boundary and saving eight runs.

In all 444 runs were scored in the two innings with the batters smacking 33 sixes in all as the batters ruled over the bowlers.

Earlier, Conway started slowly but struck some brilliant shots in a superb display of power-hitting, blasting 83 off 45 deliveries while Dube smashed 52 off 27 balls, hammering five towering sixes, as CSK made superb use of a good pitch and feasted on the RCB bowling.

Despite losing the prolific Ruturaj Gaikwad (3 off 6) with only 16 runs on the board, Chennai Super Kings reached 53/1 in the Power-play, with the left-right combination of Conway and Ajinkya Rahane taking control. They went on to raise 74 runs for the second wicket partnership.

After his first few shots landed in no man’s land but failed to reach the boundary, Rahane hooked Vijaykumar Vyshak onto the roof of the Chinnaswamy Stadium and then lashed Wayne Parnell to extra-cover fence in the 6th over before ending the Power-play by pulling Parnell over short fine-leg for maximum followed by flicking the South African bowler to the midwicket boundary.

Just when it looked like Rahane will race to his second half-century of IPL 2023, he fell to a Hasaranga wrong’un, swinging in vain as the ball crashed into the off-stump. Rahane made 37 off 20 balls, hitting three fours and two sixes.

Conway, on the other hand, whipped Parnell to the midwicket fence and then scooped him over the fine-leg boundary for a six. The Black Caps opener rolled out the scoop for a boundary off Vyshak before launching Glenn Maxwell straight of wide long-on for a maximum. Harshal Patel was swatted away for six over the midwicket fence while Wanindu Hasaranga got the same treatment when he dropped one short outside off-stump as he completed back-to-back half-centuries.

Shivam Dube smacked Siraj for a four and a six in the 14th over and blasted Vyshak for two sixes in the next over and followed it up with a boundary off a wide yorker to claim 18 runs as CSK were cruising with 165/2 at the end of the 15th over. He ramped a short one from Harshal Patel to the third-man boundary.

However, Harshal Patel made the breakthrough for RCB when he castled Conway with a brilliant slow-dipping yorker, ending the Black Caps opener’s superb innings for 83 (off 45 balls, 6×4, 6×6). Dube completed his fifty off 25 balls with a couple of big hits against Parnell. The South African pacer had the last laugh as he cut on the pace again and had Dube (52 off 27 balls, 2×4, 5×6) caught inches away from the boundary rope at deep midwicket as Mohammed Siraj pouched a superb catch.

Moeen Ali remained not out on 19 from nine deliveries as Ambati Rayudu (14 off 6) and Ravindra Jadeja (10 off 8) helped CSK make good use of the opportunity and set RCB the biggest chase of IPL 2023, which in the end proved enough for an exciting win.

Brief scores:

Chennai Super Kings 226/6 in 20 overs (Devon Conway 83, Shivam Dube 52, Ajinkya Rahane 37; Wanindu Hasaranga 1-21) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 218/8 in 20 overs (Glenn Maxwell 76, Faf du Plessis 62, Dinesh Karthik 28; Tushar Deshpande 3-35, Matheesha Pathirana 2-42) by 8 runs.

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Rajasthan Royals beat Chennai Super Kings in a last-ball thriller

Chasing a target of 176 on a slow turner and with dew coming down in copious amounts was expected to be easy for Chennai Super Kings in what was the 200th match for Dhoni as captain….reports Asian Lite News

A valiant blazing 32 not out off 17 balls by skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni went in vain as Chennai Super Kings lost to Rajasthan Royals by three runs in a last-ball edge-of-the-seat thriller in the India Premier League (IPL) 2023 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Wednesday.

Chasing a target of 176 on a slow turner and with dew coming down in copious amounts was expected to be easy for Chennai Super Kings in what was the 200th match for Dhoni as captain. The CSK skipper made a brave effort by hitting two sixes in the final over but in the end, fell short narrowly.

But after recovering from the setback of losing Rituraj Gaikwad, their top scorer so far, for eight runs, but recovering to 78/1 thanks to Devon Conway and Ajinkya Rahane, CSK reached a stage with 40 needed off the last 12 deliveries, Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja pulled them to 21 off six and then seven off three deliveries. It boiled down to five runs off the final delivery faced by Dhoni when Sandeep Sharma, who had started the final over with two wides, bowled a good yorker to deny Dhoni the glory on his milestone day.

After deciding to bowl first and restricting Rajasthan Royals to what initially looked like a below-par 175/8 in 20 overs, Chennai could manage 172/6 in 20 overs and lost by a narrow margin.

Earlier, brilliant bowling by Rajasthan Royals spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (2-25) and Yuzvendra Chahal (2-27) off their respective four overs had hampered Chennai Super Kings’ chase as they had recovered from losing an early wicket to reach 78/1 in the 10th over.

Opener Devon Conway, who had struck Adam Zampa to two boundaries in the fifth over, and seasoned Ajinkya Rahane (31) had repaired the innings but things went downhill for CSK on their home ground after Ashwin had trapped Rahane in front to give Rajasthan Royals the much-needed breakthrough.

Ashwin also got Shivam Dube (8 off 9) while Adam Zampa accounted for the dangerous Moeen Ali (7 off 10) and Chahal sent back Ambati Rayudu (1) as Chennai Super Kings slumped to 103/5. Chahal then claimed the prized wicket of Devon Conway (50), and Chennai Super Kings looked down and out.

However, skipper MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja struck some big blows as they pulled CSK to 40 runs needed off the last two overs. Dhoni and Jadeja hammered Jason Holder for two sixes and a four as they raised 19 runs from the 19th over.

With CSK needing 21 runs off the last over, Sandeep Sharma started with a couple of wides and then Dhoni smacked sixes off the next two deliveries off two low full-tosses and Chennai needed seven from three deliveries.

He managed one run off the fourth delivery of the over and Jadeja could take a single off the fifth delivery, leaving it for Dhoni to get five runs off the last delivery to seal the victory. Sandeep Sharma bowled a superb yorker and Dhoni could manage only one run as Rajasthan Royals claimed a thrilling win.

Brief scores:

Rajasthan Royals 175/8 in 20 overs (Jos Buttler 52, Devdutt Padikkal 38, R Ashwin 30, Shimron Hetmyer 30 not out; Ravindra Jadeja 2-21, Tushar Deshpande 2-37, Akash Singh 2-40) beat Chennai Super Kings 172/6 in 20 overs (Devon Conway 50, Ajinkya Rahane 31, M.S Dhoni 32 not out, Ravindra Jadeja 25 not out; r Ashwin 2-25, Yuzvendra Chahal 2-27) by 3 runs.

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Chennai Super Kings defeated Mumbai Indians by seven wickets 

A clash between Mumbai Indians, who have won the IPL five times, and Chennai Super Kings, four-time winners, is usually a tough encounter for both teams but clinical bowling by the CSK bowlers led by Jadeja made it a one-sided contest on Saturday…reports Asian Lite News

Ravindra Jadeja claimed 3/20 to break Mumbai Indians back and Ajinkya Rahane then slammed the fastest fifty of the 2023 season off 19 deliveries as Chennai Super Kings thrashed archrivals in their own den for a seven-wicket win in Match 12 of the 16th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Wankhede Stadium, here on Saturday.

Jadeja was brilliant in the execution of his plans as he bowled a fine length and line to claim the prized scalps of Ishan Kishan (32), Cameron Green (12), and Tilak Varma (22) and Santner bagged the wickets of the struggling Suryakumar Yadav (1) and Arshad Khan (2) and with Mitchell Santner and Tushar Deshpande claiming two wickets apiece, Chennai restricted Mumbai Indians for a below-par 157/8 in 20 overs.

Rahane then came to the party as the 34-year-old, playing his first match for Chennai Super Kings, slammed 61 off 27 deliveries, proving that there was still a lot of bite left in the old dog, even though CSK roped him at his base price of Rs 50 lakh in the mini-auction while players with 1/10th of his experience and skills bagged contracts worth crores.

Rahane blasted the fastest half-century of IPL 2023 off 19 deliveries and put CSK on road to victory in their chase of a modest target of 158. Ruturaj Gaikwad played a patient knock of 40 not out, batting through the innings while Rahane went for his shots, scoring 61 off 27 deliveries as CSK reached 159/3 in 18.1 overs after their bowlers had done a brilliant job to restrict Mumbai Indians to 157/8 in their 20 overs after Dhoni had won the toss and asked Mumbai Indians to bat first.

In their chase of a modest target, Chennai Super Kings suffered an early setback when opener Devon Conway fell for a duck, bowled inside edging onto his stumps as he pushed at a back-of-length delivery from Jason Behrendorff, the Aussie pacer claiming the New Zealand batter off the fourth delivery of his first over.

Dhoni pulled a rabbit out of his hat as he sent Rahane to bat and the India Test stalwart did not disappoint his skipper. He launched Behrendorff over the rope with a superb pull shot as the Aussie pacer erred in length and then meted out the same treatment to Arshad Khan, who went down the leg side with a full-length delivery.

The 34-year-old Rahane feasted on Arshad Khan’s bowling in the fourth over. After hitting the six, he cut a wide one through point, tapped the next delivery to the boundary past the third man, and then scorched another cut shot past cover for three successive fours off Arshad Khan. And when Arshad came around the wicket for the last two deliveries of that eventful over, Rahne straight-drove him for the fifth boundary of the over (4 fours and 1 six). He ended the over with a single for 23 runs.

In the next over, Rahane smacked a pull off his hips for a six off Cameron Green and reached the fastest fifty of IPL 2023 by hammering Piyush Chawla for boundaries off successive deliveries. He struck Chawla for his seventh boundary of the night before lofting the seasoned leg-break bowler straight to Suryakumar Yadav, completing the shot with the bottom part of his bat as the ball came in a bit slow.

Rahane’s 61-run knock came off 27 balls and put CSK on course to victory as he and Ruturaj Gaikwad added 81 runs for the second wicket stand. Thanks to his blitzkrieg, CSK scored 68/1 in the Power-play and were 97/2 at the halfway stage. Mumbai Indians were 84/5 after 10 overs.

While Rahane was out, Gaikwad continued to hold the fort as he played patient innings as he batted through for an unbeaten 40 off 36 deliveries, hitting two fours and one six as he guided CSK to 159/3 in 18.1 overs) and a seven-wicket victory.

A clash between Mumbai Indians, who have won the IPL five times, and Chennai Super Kings, four-time winners, is usually a tough encounter for both teams but clinical bowling by the CSK bowlers led by Jadeja made it a one-sided contest on Saturday.

It did not look like that when Tushar Deshpande made the breakthrough for Chennai Super Kings when he sent Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma’s stumps cartwheeling with a superb inswinger for 21 and then had Tim David, who had hammered him for 18 runs in the 17th over for two sixes and a four, holing out in the outfield for 31.

Hrithik Shokeen (18 not out) and Piyush Chawla (5 not out) added 26 runs off 18 balls towards the end as Mumbai managed to cross the 150-run mark.

Four of Mumbai Indians’ batters got decent starts but could not convert them into big innings, it appeared they wanted to blast their way out of trouble which proved futile.

Asked to bat first, Mumbai Indians got off to a dismal start as skipper Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan managed to raise 38 runs for the opening stand. Rohit (21) started with a four off Deepak Chahar over extra cover and then sliced the same bowler over mid-off for another boundary. Rohit also struck Tushar Deshpande over point for a boundary but was troubled by his Mumbai Ranji teammate, who missed the inside edge with a good outswinger and beat him again a ball later with another outswinger.

Rohit responded by hammering a short one from Deshpande over point for a flat six but the bowler had the last laugh as he castled the India skipper with an angled delivery that skidded in late and squared up Rohit to breach the defense. It was entertaining cricket between a top-class batter and a fine bowler but it did not last long and Mumbai were reduced to 38/1 in the fourth over.

That wicket by Deshpande was crucial as CSK suffered a massive blow in the very first over of the game with fast bowler Deepak Chahar leaving the field owing to an injury to his hamstring.

Rohit’s wicket started the slide for Mumbai Indians as Ishan Kishan departed soon after the Power-play as Mumbai slumped to 64/2 in the 7th over. They could not recover from those early setbacks as Cameron Green, Suryakumar Yadav, Tristan Stubbs, and Arshad Khan got out without scoring much.

Tilak Varma too failed to work his magic, as he did in their opening match against Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians ended with a total that was too difficult to defend.

Brief scores: Mumbai Indians 157/8 in 2o overs (Ishan Kishan 32, Tim David 31; Ravindra Jadeja 3-20, Mitchell Santner 2-28, Tushar Deshpande 2-31) lost to Chennai Super Kings 159/3 in 18.1 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 61, Ruturaj Gaikwad 40 not out; Jason Behrendorff 1-24) by 7 wickets.

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A grand homecoming for Chennai Super Kings

Nicholas Pooran threatened to drive Lucknow to a late win, but Tushar Deshpande took him out as the visitors ended up at 205/7, with Chennai pocketing vital two points in a high-scoring entertaining game…reports Asian Lite News

It was a day that fans of Chennai Super Kings eagerly awaited in IPL 2023: the grand homecoming of M.S. Dhoni & Co to Chepauk after 1427. In front of a packed home crowd wearing yellow, CSK didn’t disappoint as they emerged victorious by 12 runs in a run-fest against Lucknow Super Giants on Monday night.

Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway shared a blistering 110-run opening stand while Ambati Rayudu and captain M.S. Dhoni, along with Moeen Ali and Shivam Dube, propelled CSK to reach 217/7.

In reply, Kyle Mayers had threatened to steal their thunder with a 22-ball 53.

His efforts meant Lucknow reached 73/0 in five overs. But Moeen and Santner struck as LSG slipped to 82/3 in the eighth over. Moeen, who picked 4-26, and Santner, who returned with 1-21, kept things tight to bring Chennai back into the game.

Nicholas Pooran threatened to drive Lucknow to a late win, but Tushar Deshpande took him out as the visitors ended up at 205/7, with Chennai pocketing vital two points in a high-scoring entertaining game.

Both Gaikwad (57) and Conway (47) played some outstanding shots to smash 79 runs in the Power-play, which became CSK’s highest-ever score in this phase at Chepauk. Conway got off to a flier by slamming Avesh Khan for back-to-back boundaries in the second over.

Gaikwad took over with a superb square drive off Mayers, before pulling Krunal Pandya over mid-on for a brace of boundaries. He then welcomed K Gowtham with two sixes straight down the ground; followed by a beautiful lofted inside-out six over extra cover.

Conway tore into Mark Wood with an uppish drive and pull for a brace of boundaries while Gaikwad gently flicked over deep backward square leg for six to notch up his fifty in 25 balls. Conway slammed two elegant sixes over long-on off Krunal to bring up the century of the opening partnership in eight overs.

Lucknow finally had a breakthrough in the tenth over as Gaikwad went for a drive off Ravi Bishnoi, but the leading edge flew to short third man. In the next over, Conway again went for a pull off Wood but was caught by a diving deep backward square leg.

Dube then boosted Chennai’s innings with three gigantic sixes, including a 102-metres maximum, apart from one four. But when trying to get a big shot off Bishnoi, he gave a top edge to the short third man.

Moeen gave further impetus to Chennai’s innings with a hat-trick of fours through the off-side against Avesh, before being stumped off Bishnoi. Though Ben Stokes and Ravindra Jadeja fell cheaply, Ambati Rayudu applied finishing touches by dancing down the pitch to hit a brace of sixes off Wood while sweeping off Bishnoi and slicing over leaping short third man to get two boundaries.

The crowd truly went berserk in the final over when MS Dhoni slammed back-to-back sixes off Wood — a big slash over wide third man was followed by a huge hook into the upper tier at deep square leg fence. Though Dhoni sliced to the third man and depart for 12, the crowd was treated to a short yet crisp cameo from their beloved leader which was worth their money.

In reply, Mayers welcomed Stokes with successive fours through the off-side, followed by a clean 86m six over long-off. Mayers made strokeplay look ridiculously easy, punching, pulling and driving against Deepak Chahar in the next over.

Mayers then put Tushar Deshpande under the pump, lofting over mid-off and muscling over long-on for four and six respectively as Lucknow reached their fifty. Chahar was again taken to the cleaners as Mayers and Rahul took 17 runs off the fifth over, as the former reached his fifty in 21 balls for the second time in as many matches.

But Moeen provided the breakthrough as Mayers slog-swept straight to deep mid-wicket. In the next over, Deepak Hooda couldn’t time his slog-sweep and holed out to long-on. Rahul went for slog-sweep too and picked out deep mid-wicket.

Pandya and Marcus Stoinis tried to resurrect the chase, but the former miscued the slog to long-on off Moeen while the latter saw his leg-stump being rattled by the off-spinner. Pooran kept the chase alive with a six and two fours off Rajvardhan Hangargekar.

He then flat-batted a six over extra cover off Ravindra Jadeja and followed it up by reverse-sweeping over the point for another six. Pooran’s blitz came to an end when his lofted drive was caught by long-off against Deshpande. The pacer would take out Ayush Badoni in the final over though he gave away 15 runs, but by then the match was in Chennai’s favour.

Brief scores:

Chennai Super Kings 217/7 in 20 overs (Ruturaj Gaikwad 57, Devon Conway 47; Ravi Bishnoi 3-28, Mark Wood 3-49) beat Lucknow Super Giants 205/7 in 20 overs (Kyle Mayers 53, Nicholas Pooran 32; Moeen Ali 4-26, Tushar Deshpande 2-45) by 12 runs

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IPL 2022: Chennai registers first win

CSK were in a spot of bother at 36-2 after 6.4 overs but Uthappa and Dube took RCB bowlers to the cleaners and stitched a whopping 165 runs off just 74 balls for the third wicket, helping the team post a big total…reports Asian Lite News

Superlative bowling performance by Maheesh Theekshana (4/33) and skipper Ravindra Jadeja (3/39) and brilliant knocks by Shivam Dube and Robin Uthappa helped Chennai Super Kings beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 23 runs in an IPL 2022 match and register their first win of the season at the D Y Patil Stadium, here on Tuesday.

Sensational counter-attacking half-centuries by Shivam Dube (95 not out off 46) and Robin Uthappa (88 off 50) propelled Chennai Super Kings to a mammoth 216/4 in 20 overs. CSK were in a spot of bother at 36-2 after 6.4 overs but Uthappa and Dube took RCB bowlers to the cleaners and stitched a whopping 165 runs off just 74 balls for the third wicket, helping the team post a big total.

Chasing a huge total, RCB were off to a poor start as they lost three key wickets inside the powerplay. Skipper Faf du Plessis (8), who mis-hit a delivery by Maheesh Theekshana to long-on, was the first one to get dismissed. Very soon, Virat Kohli (1) picked out the fielder in the deep on the on-side off Mukesh Chouhdary.

Attacking batter Glenn Maxwell tried to put the pressure back on Theekshana and CSK with back-to-back sixes in the sixth over. However, the Sri Lankan spinner continued to impress by dismissing Anuj Rawat (12) in the same over with a carrom ball as RCB were reduced to 42/3. Maxwell looked like he was connecting his shots but he too had to walk after he was castled by the arm ball from Ravindra Jadeja.

However, the next batters — Suyash Prabhudessai and Shahbaz Ahmed — had a 60 run partnership for the 5th wicket and they brought RCB back in the game. Debutant Prabhudessai showed his innovativeness during his enterprising 18-ball 34 knock before he was cleaned up by Theekshana.

On the other hand, Shahbaz also played a fine hand of 41 while the in-form Dinesh Karthik took over with an attacking 14-ball 34. Karthik targeted Mukesh Choudhary in the 17th over with two sixes and a four in a 23-run over, but he lacked support at the other end. Eventually, Karthik, who got out in the 18th over, had too much to do as RCB could manage 193/9 on the board in the stipulated 20 overs.

Earlier, put in to bat first, the out-of-form CSK opener Ruturaj Gaikwad got off to a good start but he couldn’t carry his innings longer and fell on 17 to Josh Hazlewood. Thereafter, Moeen Ali (3), who came out to bat at No 3 then got run out courtesy of a terrible mix-up between two CSK batters and a sensational fielding effort from RCB debutant Suyash Prabhudessai.

After getting the big wickets of Ruturaj and Moeen, RCB were on top but Dube and Uthappa had other plans. The duo took their time to settle down as CSK reached 60/2 after 10 overs.

From there on, both batters decided to free their arms and scored 13, 13, 19, 13, 15 runs each in overs 11 to 15. With 8 wickets in hand, CSK were batting freely and it was getting tough for RCB to stem the flow of runs as many as 83 runs were scored in the last 5 overs.

During their important stand, Uthappa smashed 9 sixes and four boundaries while Dube hit eight sixes and five fours. Shivam Dube’s knock of 95 not out has also become the highest individual score in a CSK-RCB encounter equalling 95 by Murali Vijay in IPL 2011 final in Chennai.

For RCB, Akash Deep conceded 58 runs in his four, while the otherwise economical Wanindu Hasaranga gave away 35 in his two overs and picked two wickets. The most economical on the night was Hazlewood (1/33), but even he went for over-8 an over.

Brief scores: Chennai Super Kings 216/4 in 20 overs (Shivam Dube 95 not out, Robin Uthappa 88; Wanindu Hasaranga 2/35, Josh Hazlewood 1/33) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 193/9 in 20 overs (Shahbaz Ahmed 41, Suyash Prabhudessai 34, Dinesh Karthik 34; Maheesh Theekshana 4/33, Ravindra Jadeja 3/39) by 23 runs.

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MS Dhoni quits as CSK captain

MS Dhoni quits as CSK captain

Defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Thursday have announced that iconic wicketkeeper-batter MS Dhoni has quit as the captain of the side ahead of the start of IPL 2022…reports Asian Lite News

In place of Dhoni, left-arm spin all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja will be the new captain of Chennai.

“MS Dhoni has decided to hand over the leadership of Chennai Super Kings and picked Ravindra Jadeja to lead the team. Jadeja, who has been an integral part of Chennai Super Kings since 2012, will only be the third player to lead CSK. Dhoni will continue to represent Chennai Super Kings this season and beyond,” said a statement from the franchise.

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Dhoni, who had been the captain of CSK since the inception of the league in 2008, had already retired from international cricket in August 2020. Under his captaincy, Chennai won the IPL trophy in 2010, 2011, 2018 and 2021 apart from winning two now-defunct Champions League T20 titles in 2010 and 2014.

CSK will open their IPL 2022 campaign against two-time IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders in a re-match of the 2021 IPL final at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday.