A glance at the scorecard tells me that Chennai did well to restrict the Royals to just 146/4 having lost the toss. Dravid was keen to make first use of the wicket, although in the end it probably played slower than what he had in mind. Rahane, deservedly holder of the orange cap, went early on and this brought in Owais Shah(52 from 43) who played yet another good knock for RR. Its a shame it never quite clicked for him at international level because he really is a star in limited overs cricket, able to hit the ball to any area at will. It was him and Menaria (36 from 34) that put on a decent partnership for the 3rd wicket to set up a possible grandstand finish for RR but they struggled to get the ball away at the end, the last 3 overs going for just 17 runs and this made all the difference as another 10 runs could have won it for them. Kulasekera followed up his good showing from last time with 4-0-17-1 and Ashwin proved just why he's so highly rated in the shortest format with 4-0-19-1 and the big wicket of Rajasthan. Given that they'd only lost 4 wickets Rajasthan may well have hoped for more but struggled to reach the boundaries at the end thanks to good death overs from Kula in particular.
In reply, Chennai guaranteed their 3 successive win, thanks mainly to another good innings from Faf du Plessis (MoM). It was thought he was merely covering for the absent Mike Hussey but du Plessis has done a brilliant job so far and his 73 from 52 further stamped his claim on that opening position. I'd never seen a lot of him before this year and always thought of him as a bit part cricketer but he's been so much more than that and has the ability to play some delightful shots down the ground, Hussey may be a bit worried by now! Hogg was the only man to have him in much trouble and was as hard to read as ever, taking 1-18 and he has become RR's most dangerous bowler even at the age of 41. CSK got themselves into some late trouble, as du Plessis and Raina both fell to clever changes of pace from the returning Kevon Cooper (4-0-23-2) who built the late pressure to make for a tense finish. Dhoni and Bravo just about scored the 30 runs still required and this was mainly thanks to brilliant running between the wickets, as is often the case with those two, as they scampered the 8 runs required from the last over with a quick 2 to finish from the final ball, denying Stuart Binny who'd done so well under pressure to just fall short. Dhoni even said post-match that he was never going to risk going for a boundary in that over, he'd have taken a super over with their big hitting line-up and this showed his brilliant confidence in his side that must be installed into the rest of the CSK line-up, he really is a great captain.
Rajasthan will wish they'd scored a few more runs, albeit on a slow pitch, as they struggled to reach the boundary towards the end and middle overs. Chennai have such a superb bowling line-up and their spinners, most notably Ashwin, can reel in the opposition in those vital middle overs meaning the game is never out of CSK's reach. CSK have plenty of momentum after 3 wins on the trot, recovering from a poor start and look like the impressive outfit that we've come to know in the IPL, both sides now going well in the competition.
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