‘Give him knighthood’: Fans laud Ashwin’s all-round show in Rajasthan’s comfortable win over Chennai
Yashashvi Jaiswal (Image Source: BCCI/IPL)
Rajasthan and Chennai faced each other in the 68th match of the Indian T20 League 2022 at Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. The Brabourne pitch is the only wicket that has not slowed down with the gradual progression of the tournament. This was also evident during the first half of Chennai’s batting, but then it looked like this pitch had also taken the toll of the long tournament.
Chennai won the toss and decided to bat first. Ruturaj Gaikwad’s off-form continued as he was dismissed in the first over of the match for 2 of 6 balls by Trent Boult. But after this Moeen Ali raised a storm in the middle and gave real momentum to the team. He was going great guns, but wickets kept falling at the other end and Moeen started running out of partners. Although Chennai lost Devon Conway (16 of 14) and N Jagadeesan (1 of 4) within the first ten overs, they scored at a great rate and were stationed at 94 for three after 10 overs. But after this, they started to lose momentum in an attempt to stabilize the innings.
Moeen Ali who was going all guns blazing found it hard to bat fluently during the second half of the innings. He was also not getting support from MS Dhoni at the other end who was also looking rusty out in the middle. MS Dhoni was dismissed in the 19the over after he played below-par innings of 26 runs from 28 balls. He was soon followed by Moeen Ali who scored 93 runs from 57 deliveries. His knock was decorated with 13 fours and 3 sixes. It was on the back of Moeen’s initial onslaught that Chennai somehow managed to reach a total of 150 runs for the loss of 6 wickets in their 20 overs. Chennai was able to score only 56 runs from the last 10 overs. The pick of the bowlers for Rajasthan was Obed McCoy who picked up 2 wickets from his 4 overs conceding just 20 runs. Yuzvendra Chahal also picked up 2 wickets conceding 26 runs from his 4 overs.
Rajasthan during their chase lost Jos Buttler early and were 16 for 1 down in 1.4 overs. Sanu Samson and Yashashvi Jaiswal stabilized the innings from there on and put on a partnership of 51 runs before Samson (15 of 20) was dismissed. Samson’s wicket was picked up by Mitchell Santner in the ninth over of the innings. Samson was soon followed by Devdutt Padikkal (3 of 9) and much like Chennai, Rajasthan was seemingly losing momentum in their chase. But Ashwin ensured that they don’t fall too far behind the required rate as he started taking the attack on the bowlers. The duo were looking comfortable, when against the run of play Jaiswal was dismissed in the 15th over. He played a steady knock of 59 runs off 44 balls before falling to Prashant Solanki. As the over concluded Rajasthan was 104 for 4, needing 47runs from last 30 balls. With Shimron Hetmyer out in the middle the target looked easy for Rajasthan.
But Solanki picked up the important wicket of Hetmyer in the 17th over and Rajasthan was put under pressure with their score at 112 for 5. But Ashwin and Riyan Parag played handy knocks under pressure and took Rajasthan close to the target. In the last two overs Rajasthan required 20 runs to win at a required rate of 10 runs per over. The match was hanging on the balance. But Ashwin held his nerves and took his team over the line. He remained unbeaten on 40 off 23 balls with 2 fours and 3 sixes. Rajasthan won the match by 5 wickets with 2 balls remaining in the match. With this win Rajasthan won their 9th match in the league stage and ensured a top 2 finish, while Chennai lost their 10th match in 14 outings.
Here is how Twitter reacted to the match.
https://twitter.com/ChennaiIPL/status/1527680503951724545?s=20&t=rCESptCX0JVkuuO-7KLnVA
https://twitter.com/ChennaiIPL/status/1527678857746141186?s=20&t=rCESptCX0JVkuuO-7KLnVA
Dear Moeen Ali.. He is Trent Boult not any uncapped player.. have some respect. Unbelievable hitting by the southpaw. #CSKvsRR #TATAIPL pic.twitter.com/jXdklOjZgj
— Amit Mishra (@MishiAmit) May 20, 2022
https://twitter.com/Sportskeeda/status/1527698988321107968?s=20&t=rCESptCX0JVkuuO-7KLnVA
Yashasvi Has Played Well And Has Shown A Great Composure Throughout The Innings,His Wicket Will Be The Key Wicket For CSK, #RRvCSK #IPL2022
— Parth Bagree (@deadbloop_) May 20, 2022
O Ashwin! You deserve to be in the T20 team. Hopefully! #RRvCSK
— . (@darkhorse786_) May 20, 2022
https://twitter.com/ChennaiIPL/status/1527702676179329025?s=20&t=rCESptCX0JVkuuO-7KLnVA
https://twitter.com/varunkaushik18/status/1527703793009164289?s=20&t=rCESptCX0JVkuuO-7KLnVA
https://twitter.com/Manjina_Hani/status/1527702632487612417?s=20&t=rCESptCX0JVkuuO-7KLnVA
@ashwinravi99 complete game changer both with ball & with bat as well ..picking crucial wkts regularly in all the matches.. scoring good amount of runs when the team needed..desperately ash need this performance ..#RRvsCSK #RRvCSK @rajasthanroyals
— Dr.M.Vijay (@VijayMprofessor) May 20, 2022
Ravichandran ashwin doing what jadeja aspires to do #RRvCSK #RRvsCSK #CSKvsRR #IPL2022
— Sachin Bhati (@sachii656) May 20, 2022
Rajasthan Royals have given IPL Ashwin the batsman in 2022#RRvCSK
— Abhijeet ♞ (@TheYorkerBall) May 20, 2022
Masterpiece batting by R Ashwin……#CricketTwitter #IPL2022 #RRvCSK
— CricInformer(Cricket News & Fantasy Tips) (@CricInformer) May 20, 2022
A-S-H-W-I-N-N-I-N-G? @rajasthanroyals @ashwinravi99 #RRvCSK #IPL2022
— Reema Malhotra (@ReemaMalhotra8) May 20, 2022
Give him a knighthood! #Ashwin you beaut! #IPL2022 #RRvCSK
— Soorya Sesha (@sooryasesha7) May 20, 2022
