Watson stars in Royals victory

Rajasthan Royals captain Shane Watson has celebrated his Indian Premier League return with a match-winning half-century against the Chennai Super Kings at Ahmedabad. 

Watson, who returned from a hip injury that forced him to miss the first four matches, was involved in a century opening stand with Ajinkya Rahane that ensured the Royals maintained their unbeaten record.

The Chennai bowlers had no answers for the duo, as Rahane took out the man-of-the-match trophy and moved past George Bailey as the highest run scorer of the tournament so far. 

Chennai’s batting gave the impression of it being a difficult pitch and they ended on 4-156 but Rajasthan’s reply was a strong one and the openers shut the door on their opponents quickly with what was described by the Rajasthan mentor Rahul Dravid as a “perfect game”.

By the time Watson was finally dismissed for 73, Rajasthan were not left with much to do and Rahane’s unbeaten 76 saw them through.

Steven Smith, who came in at three, suffered a rare failure, getting out for six with the scores level.

Having suffered a hip injury after being hit in the very first net session he played in India before the start of the IPL, Watson did not feature in the first four games of the tournament. 

He came back to replace Black Caps fast bowler Tim Southee while the Royals made one other change to their XI, bringing in left-arm spinner Ankit Sharma for Dhawal Kulkarni.

Chennai made no change to their team and batted first after winning the toss.

The Super Kings’ decision to bat came as no surprise with the temperature touching 43 degrees centigrade in Ahmedabad.

What they would have also wanted was for their in-form openers, Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum, to bat long and tire their opposition but that did not happen for Chennai.

McCullum began in a typically aggressive fashion in spite of a change in tactics from Rajasthan, who opened their bowling with spinner Ankit Sharma.

In the second over, McCullum faced up to Pravin Tambe and smashed the first ball back through the hands of the bowler for his third four, but the next over brought about his undoing as the Kiwi, who averages less than 10 against the Royals, attempted to pull it over the circle but only mistimed it straight to the mid-on fielder.

Image Id: ~/media/4B86EEF9C0F3455DBF36DCCAF06B1A36Rajasthan celebrate a wicket // BCCI

Chennai lost two quick wickets after that, as Suresh Raina tried to cut a delivery that was too close to him and edged it to the keeper while Faf du Plessis’ attempt to clear the long-off fence was thwarted by Chris Morris’s full-length jump close to the boundary. 

At the other end, Dwayne Smith was more judicious. He played Morris with more restraint and then took on Deepak Hooda in the fourth, hitting him for a couple of fours. Hooda did not have a good start to his 20th birthday as he went for 11 from his first over. He went on to concede another 11 from his second and finished without a wicket.

Smith welcomed James Faulkner into the attack with a hook for a six before powering another maximum over Sharma’s head.

Smith’s composed innings of 40 came to end immediately after the Strategic Timeout, however, as he attempted a slog off Faulkner but was bowled instead.

In trouble at 4-65 in the 10th over, it was the partnership of Dwayne Bravo and MS Dhoni that led Chennai’s recovery.

Bravo, who began with a four off a short ball from Tambe, added a couple more in the 12th over off Watson.

At the other end, Dhoni had trouble finding his timing. Every now and then, he found a way to find the fence but by the end of the innings, two things happened; he carried on to remain unbeaten but he also scored just 31 from 37 deliveries. 

Image Id: ~/media/2B99A9E3DC4D4570963C543C1DEBC347MS Dhoni played a steadying role for Chennai // BCCI

He would admit at the end of the game he “ate up a lot of deliveries” and hence failed to push the score up to the necessary levels. 

Watson came back to bowl his second with four overs remaining and was taken for a couple of boundaries again, finishing with figures of 0-20 in two.

Tambe’s first three overs had cost him 19, before Bravo took him to the cleaners with a six and two fours in his fourth to bring up the West Indian’s half-century. He took just 29 balls to reach it.

Chennai finished with 17 runs from the final two overs, settling for 4-156 from their 20.

Morris’s 1-19 from four overs was the pick of the spells, while Faulkner (1-26 from four) would be relieved by his comeback following three under-par efforts with the ball.

The start to Rajasthan’s innings looked unhurried but it was a pacy one. Openers Rahane and Watson were careful to play the quicks as straight and as late as possible. 

Rahane played his first pull when a Mohit Sharma delivery sat up to be hit, timing it over mid-wicket for a six, while at the other end it was not until the sixth over that Watson decided to unleash his favourite stroke to earn himself a boundary.

Between all that, Rahane punched a fuller one from Ashish Nehra down the ground for a four and repeated it in the next over off Ishwar Pandey. Watson joined in the act with a classy extra-cover drive two balls later. 

Nehra, fresh from a man-of-the-match performance against Mumbai, came back for his second over but Rahane eked out another couple of hits to the fence. There was a mistimed drive that just scooped over the mid-on fielder and then a push through mid-wicket that was misfielded by Bravo at the fence. 

Image Id: ~/media/A2130C027CBE435994BB676522C7906E

Shane Watson and Ajinkya Rahane // BCCI

While the slow nature of the track made it difficult to time the ball, the openers’ decision to not play across unless absolutely necessary took away the bowlers’ chances of getting them out early.

Rajasthan ended their Powerplay quota at 0-47.

If the first six overs belonged to Rahane with Watson happy to rotate the strike, the roles were reversed in the next few. Feeling sufficiently settled at the crease, Watson decided to take matters in his own hands and took on the spinners.

Ten runs came from the first two overs, before Watson blasted Jadeja for two sixes in a row, both over the bowler’s head, and then played his favourite slog-sweep off Ashwin for another maximum.

Left with no option but to change things around after Jadeja and Ashwin had conceded 41 from their four, Bravo was brought on to try something different, but the change didn’t work. 

Watson brought up his half-century with a six over long-on off Bravo and then a couple of edges went flying over the short third-man fielder, who was brought up into the circle.

After giving away 16 from his first over, Bravo was dispatched for a six and a four by Rahane in his next to complete his spell on 0-29 from his two. He would come back on to get rid of Steven Smith but by then the match had slipped from their grasp.

Watson and Rahane broke Rajasthan’s record for their best-ever opening stand, overcoming a six-year-old record held by Graeme Smith and Naman Ojha. 

Watson was dismissed in the 17th over just 13 runs away from the target, yorking himself off Jadeja, while Smith chipped one back to Bravo when the scores were tied to bring Chennai’s only successes.

Unfortunately for the Super Kings, it was a case of too little too late.

Rajasthan will now await George Bailey’s Kings XI Punjab in their next game at Motera on Tuesday while Chennai fly to Bangalore to take on the Royal Challengers Bangalore.