No matter what the nature of the pitch, if a side batting second fails to score at seven runs an over in a T20 game, it has batted pretty poorly. This is what Rajasthan Royals did in their game against Chennai Super Kings. Their bowling on the day was excellent, but when it was their turn to bat, they just couldn’t stand up to the challenge. Even if the nature of the pitch and some excellent bowling by the opposition are taken into consideration, they should be extremely disappointed with the manner in which they succumbed chasing a not so challenging target.
Since there was no pressure of chasing a big total on Rajasthan’s batsmen, all they needed was for a couple of their batsmen to occupy the crease. But, their failure to do so cost them dearly. While the early loss of Abhishek Nayar could have been avoided, Rajasthan had done well to recover courtesy Ajinkya Rahane and Sanju Samson. The duo had helped but the team in a decent position to chase down the middling total. But, the fact that neither could convert their start, and were dismissed in close proximity to each other hurt the team’s cause and put them under a lot of pressure.
Rajasthan could still have gotten home with some decent contributions from the middle order. But even that wasn’t to be. The wickets of skipper Shane Watson and Stuart Binny, both of whom fell cheaply, put Rajasthan completely on the back foot, and allowed Chennai to dominate the game from that point onwards. The fact that Royals failed to overhaul the target in spite of double-figure contributions from Steven Smith, Rajat Bhatia and tailender Dhawal Kulkarni (the top scorer) says something about how far behind Royals had fallen in the chase.
Chennai themselves weren’t at their best on a pitch that wasn’t to their liking. However, they are such an adaptable team that they manage to find a way out of extreme circumstances. Their win against the Royals was built on two defining individual efforts. On a pitch where most other batsmen struggled, opener Dwayne Smith half-century was achieved at a strike rate of 178.5. No other batsman came close to matching that number – Dhawal Kulkarni was next best with 147. Smith’s performance says a lot about the kind of talent he possesses, and also what he can achieve if he gets his act right, irrespective of the nature of the pitch.
Undoubtedly, the most significant effort of all came from Ravindra Jadeja. The all-rounder’s versatility helped bail Chennai out of an extremely tricky situation. First, It was his cameo with the bat that aided the side in posting a challenging total. Jadeja then himself turned the score into an imposing one, exploiting the conditions and running through the Royals’ middle order, Chennai would be extremely pleased with the proficient manner in which they defended a small total, in a way giving Rajasthan a dose of their own medicine.
--By A Cricket Analyst
