CSK’s champion skipper Dhoni produced an intelligent half-century as Chennai Super Kings posted 175 for five against Rajasthan Royals at Chepauk, on Sunday. Dhoni was brilliant with the bat; carefully playing well calculated shots to tackle Rajasthan’s disciplined bowling attack on a tricky pitch.

The World Cup winning captain used his vast experience to keep the scoreboard ticking and attain an unbeaten 75 off 46 balls to seize momentum from Royals bowlers, who were off to a great start.

The Royals pace trio of Jofra Archer, Dhawal Kulkarni and Ben Stokes kept the CSK batsmen on a tight leash in the powerplay overs. However, Dhoni and Suresh Raina (36) added 61 runs for the fourth wicket, hitting four fours and as many sixes whenever they got the chance to open their arms.




Speaking of Dhoni, the crowd at Chepauk was on their feet to welcome skipper MS Dhoni to the crease. A bizarre incident took place but thanks to Dhoni’s pure luck, he survived a near chop on. In the 4th ball of the sixth over, Dhoni tried to defend a short delivery from Archer by playing it off the back foot, but in the process the ball rolled on back to hit the stumps. However, the bails didn’t come off, Dhoni lived.


Teams:

Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Ajinkya Rahane(c), Jos Buttler(w), Sanju Samson, Steven Smith, Ben Stokes, Rahul Tripathi, Krishnappa Gowtham, Jofra Archer, Jaydev Unadkat, Shreyas Gopal, Dhawal Kulkarni

Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni(w/c), Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Imran Tahir