Rajasthan Royals became the third team to qualify for the playoffs of the Indian Premier League 2022 as they beat former champions Chennai Super Kings in their final league game.
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Rajasthan Royals (RR) became the third team to qualify for the playoffs of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 as they beat former champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by five wickets in their final league game at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. Chasing a below-par score, RR lost their key player Jos Buttler early in the second over with 16 runs on the board. Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and skipper Sanju Samson stitched together a partnership of 51 runs. Sanju (15 off 20 balls), who scored at a rather slow rate, was the next to go. RR lost Devdutt Padikkal 9 runs later and the team looked desperate for a good partnership at 76/3. Jaiswal, who looked in fine touch, fell to the delivery of Prashant Solanki as the Rajasthan side looked in trouble at 104/4. The below-par score of 150 started to look big as CSK picked up wickets at regular intervals. However, Ravichandran Ashwin looked like a man on a mission as he took the Royals over the line against his former team. He scored 40 runs off just 23 balls and hit two boundaries and three sixes.
In the first innings, two-wicket hauls by Yuzvendra Chahal and Obed McCoy helped Rajasthan Royals in restricting Chennai Super Kings to 150/6. Choosing to bat first, CSK had a shaky start as their opening batter Ruturaj Gaikwad was caught by Sanju Samson on Trent Boult’s delivery in the first over. Moeen Ali joined opener Devon Conway and the duo steadied the innings for the Chennai side. At one point CSK were well on their way to a big score, with Moeen Ali (97 off 57 balls) playing at a blistering strike rate. Ali completed his half-century in just 19 balls but the fall of wickets at the other end pulled down the run rate. Despite a 51-run partnership between Moeen Ali and skipper MS Dhoni (26 off 28 balls), CSK was hurt by the low scoring rate. In 20 overs, CSK could only muster 150/6, which is the lowest IPL total at this ground.
