NEW DELHI: Opener Jos Buttler hit a gritty half-century to guide Rajasthan Royals to a fighting 175 for 8 against Chennai Super Kings in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Wednesday.
Buttler stitched a fine 77-run stand for the second wicket with Devdutt Padikkal (38 off 26 balls), who after his struggles against Punjab Kings, was back in his element.
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While Royals were 135 for 4 after 15 overs, the last five overs weren't as productive as they would have expected with only 40 runs being added and four wickets lost in the process.
Ravindra Jadeja (2/21 in 4 overs) was as usual menacing on a surface that assisted the spinners even as Buttler hit three huge sixes in his 36-ball-52.
Towards the end, Shimron Hetmyer (30 off 18 balls) was ever impressive as a finisher while Tushar Deshpande (2/37) gave only eight runs in the 20th over.
The CSK bowlers, especially Jadeja managed to peg back the Royals batters after the brisk start with the 50 coming in the 6th over.
Royals did struggle between overs 8-13 as they lost two wickets in the space of three balls with Padikkal and skipper Sanju Samson (0) falling to Jadeja.
The delivery that got Samson bowled with high arm speed and it did turn enough along with sufficient bounce to force the batter to play a wrong line.
After a phase in which the Royals batters did not score any boundaries for a little over six overs, Ashwin (30, 22 balls, 1x4, 2x6) smacked two successive sixes off debutant left-arm pacer Akash Singh.
He fell even as he was looking to step up the pace, skying one off Akash in the deep.
After skipper MS Dhoni won the toss and opted to bowl, Deshpande struck an early blow for the home team, dismissing the dangerous Yashasvi Jaiswal (10, 8 balls, 2x4), having him caught by Shivam Dube.
Buttler and Padikkal (38, 26 balls, 5x4) added 77 runs in 41 deliveries before the latter fell to Ravindra Jadeja, caught in the deep by Devon Conway. The partnership laid the foundation for the Royals after Jaiswal was dismissed early.
Dhoni was felicitated prior to the match for captaining CSK for a 200th time in IPL by former BCCI president N Srinivasan in the presence of his wife Chitra Srinivasan and former TNCA president Rupa Gurunath.
(With PTI inputs)
