Mitchell Centner, on Thursday (April 11th), struck a six against Ben Stokes to win the miracle win for Chennai Super Kings in a drama-contested match against Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.
Chasing 152, MS Dhoni (43-ball 58) and Ambati Rayudu (47-ball 57) reached the goal, but it was in the last over where all the plays were unveiled. Needing 18 runs to win, Ravindra Jadeja managed to score a six on the first ball despite losing his balance and falling on the field. Stokes then took 3 for 8 from the third ball on Dhoni.
Just when we thought that the play has ended, the main umpire indicated no ball on the fourth ball and then suddenly dropped out. The situation of such confusion was that it forced Dhoni to come out of the dongout and he was obviously unhappy how things changed. However, Santner gave his cool and 2, 2, wd and 6 hit and Dhoni as the captain for the 100th win in the IPL in order to win a great victory for his team.
Rajasthan were asked to bat, losing wickets at regular intervals, before some contribution from the lower middle order took them to 151 for 7 in 20 overs. In reply, Dhoni and Rayudu added 95 runs for the fifth wicket after Chennai's top order blossomed. However, it was Jadeja and Sentner, who put them in line.
Earlier, Ajinkya Rahane and Jos Buttler used to go with the intention of going after Chennai's most trusted powerplay bowler Deepak Chahar (two wickets for 33 runs), and the subsequent 4 and 6 were the evidence in the over. Rahane also gave some positive signs with Mitchell Satnar (a wicket by 25 runs) in the form of two fours, but when it seemed that everything was going well for the domestic team, it had to be victimized.
Despite a lot of movement inside the Rahane crease, Chahar kept it nice and straightforward and put Rajasthan's captain in front of the leg-stump on 14 runs. For three consecutive boundaries, but the extra became greedy and ended up paying for it. The wicketkeeper-batsman wanted to throw a few balls in the bottom of the field, but lost the shape in the process and gave the catch to Ambati Rayudu on the extra cover area for 10-ball 23.
While returning to the team after an injury, Sanju Samson (6) did not even go ahead and became the first victim of Santander. Despite having a good run on the board, Rajasthan kept wickets and no batsman could make it at their start.
Steven Smith (15) and Rahul Tripathi (10) stayed for a while, but Ravindra Jadeja (2 or 20) fell in the two overs span, leaving the left-arm spinner touching 100 wickets in the IPL. While Tripathi was caught by Kedar Jadhav for a spectacular display, Smith hit the fielder at deep mid-wicket one by one and touched the right hand.
Ben Stokes (28), Ryan Parag (16) and Joefra Archer (13), who debuted, made four runs, but it included Shreyas Gopal (19 in 7 balls), which eventually made a difference. The 25-year-old put two fours and a six in the last two overs and put the team behind with 150 runs.
Chennai's chasing the total total was quite poor, which lost four wickets in six overs. Shane Watson struggled against Dhawal Kulkarni and got out on zero. In the meantime, Suresh Raina (4) was caught in ball-watch while taking the possible single and Archer got caught by Boulis on non striker end.
After falling to Jaidev Unadkat of Faf du Plessis (7), Kedar Jadhav (1) went ahead with a spectacular display on the Stokes ground. The right-handed player slapped one on the left side of the Stokes, but the English all-rounder took his leap to fullness to pull a spectacular catch.
At the end of six overs, 4 were reduced to 24 runs, Chennai needed a big partnership and Rayudu and Dhoni were not disappointed. Both started slowly, before Dhoni dismissed Shreyas Gopal for more than a long time.
Went after both spinners and kept looking for boundaries against Gopal and Parag. Rahane brought Archer back to the attack but both Raidu and Dhoni dismissed them. To ensure that the required run-rate is within reach, Rayudu also joined the party. The right-hander made two half-centuries and a four in an interval of two overs to complete his half-century and brought the equation down with 51 in 30 balls.
After this, Gopal and Archer bowled super-back-to-bowl and only 12 runs in two overs. With the need of 39 in 18, Stokes kept it tight and gave the catch to Ryder for the full burden on Dhoni. The wicketkeeper-batsman opted not to take Archer, and scored 18 runs for the last over, which eventually did not take a bad step.
