Rajasthan Royals 190 for 3 (Dube 64*, Jaiswal 50, Thakur 2-30) beat Chennai Super Kings 189 for 4 (Gaikwad 101*, Jadeja 32*, Tewatia 3-39) by seven wickets
A breathtaking opening stand of 77 in 5.2 overs between Yashasvi Jaiswal and Evin Lewis helped keep Rajasthan Royals in the playoffs race, and all but consigned Ruturaj Gaikwad's maiden T20 century to a footnote. While Super Kings piled up 89 runs off their last six overs, Royals hit back with as many in their first seven, bagging two crucial points in a comprehensive win that pushed them above Mumbai Indians on net run rate. The finishing touches were applied by Shivam Dube, who remained unbeaten on 64.
Royals romped home with seven wickets and 15 balls in hand, as Super Kings, having already qualified for the next stage of the tournament, fell to their first defeat in the UAE leg of IPL 2021, breaking a four-match winning streak.
Jaiswal, Lewis take off in the powerplay
Jaiswal hit four boundaries inside the first two overs, including dominating a bowler of Josh Hazlewood's class by whacking him over deep midwicket and crunching one past the cover fielders. Lewis joined the party in the next over by hammering six and four off Sam Curran's first two balls. The fifty stand came up at the end of the fourth over - Lewis' forceful pull over deep midwicket raised that milestone.
Jaiswal then took Hazlewood for 22 in the fifth over: the first hit was a pulled six, the next one a swat over long-on, then a four through the covers and, finally, another six over mid-off. The last hit brought up his fifty off 19 balls, the joint-second-fastest for Royals in IPL history. The opening pair had raked up 77 in just over five overs to set the tone for their side, before they were separated as Lewis found fine leg.
Gaikwad gets going again
Since landing in the UAE, Gaikwad has averaged 104 and has a strike rate of 148.57 in five innings, with 38 being his lowest score. As on most occasions, he was largely content taking his time initially before teeing off in the middle overs against Royals. He started with two boundaries in the first over of the innings - the first ball was creamed between Faf du Plessis and the stumps, before he slashed a short delivery outside off to beat the man at cover five deliveries later - but he slowed down later in the powerplay, and also once the fielding restrictions were lifted.
At one point he was on a run-a-ball 32, but just as Super Kings got into the second half of their innings he began to accelerate to eventually end on 101* from 60. After reaching fifty off 43 balls, Gaikwad started the carnage by tucking into Rahul Tewatia in the 15th over with back-to-back sixes - first over long-off and then straight into the sight screen. The next over, he hit Akash Singh for 4, 4 and 6 in a row, the second four merely a push through the line that still found the long-off fence.
Gaikwad got to his century off the final ball of the innings, when he launched Mustafizur Rahman over deep midwicket for six - two overs earlier he had deposited the same bowler for a near-replica of the shot.
Dube's day with the bat
One of five players brought into Royals' side for the game against Super Kings, Dube capitalised on the opportunity with an unbeaten 64 off 42 balls. Dube started off patiently - perhaps the commanding opening partnership allowed him that luxury - and got just four off his first seven balls. But he welcomed Ravindra Jadeja into the attack in the ninth over by firing a six over the long-on boundary, and when Super Kings introduced Moeen Ali in the next over, he took consecutive sixes off the offspinner.
Soon after, Dube was gifted two full tosses by Sam Curran - the first he swung beyond a diving Jadeja at long-on for four, the second he put beyond the deep-midwicket fence. He utilised the width on offer from Hazlewood later on, and reached his maiden IPL fifty off 30 deliveries. Dube ended with his highest score in the format.
