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After his side's five-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad said they were cruising after the powerplay in the second inning.
Speaking after the match, Gaikwad said it was a wonderful feeling for him to win their last home match of the ongoing tournament. He added they did not take pressure since they had good finishers in their batting lineup. "Wonderful feeling, especially winning the final game of the league stage. We were cruising after the powerplay but we let the opposition in with wickets. But we had the kind of batters to finish the job and didn't take pressure. We would like to play on such pitches where it will keep our bowlers in the game, the spinners as well. Bowling into the wicket is the plan usually here when it's slow. But sometimes it flattens out and the yorker and the use of two short balls becomes important. But slow pace off is a good ploy here," Gaikwad said. Summarizing the match, Rajasthan Royals won the toss and opted to bat first. On a tough surface, RR could not do much with the bat. After a 43-run partnership between Yashasvi Jaiswal (24 in 21 balls, with three fours and a six) and Jos Buttler (21 in 25 balls, with two fours), it was knocks from Riyan Parag (47* in 35 balls, with a four and three sixes) and Dhruv Jurel (28 in 18 balls, with a four and two sixes) who took RR to a respectable total of 141/5 in their 20 overs. Simarjeet Singh (3/26) and Tushar Deshpande (2/30) were among the wickets for CSK. In the run-chase of 142 runs, CSK did lose wickets at regular intervals. However, knocks from skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad (42* in 41 balls, with a four and two sixes), Rachin Ravindra (27 in 18 balls, with a four and two sixes) and Daryl Mitchell (22 in 13 balls, with four boundaries) were more than enough to take CSK to a five-wicket win with 10 balls left. Ravichandran Ashwin was the pick of the bowlers for RR. For his fantastic spell, Simarjeet took home the 'Player of the Match' award. With this win, CSK is in the third spot with seven wins and six losses, giving them 14 points. RR is at second spot, with eight wins and four losses, giving them 18 points. (ANI)
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