It was fitting, you could argue, that two cricketers at contrasting corners of their respective careers combined to deliver a most resounding victory for Rajasthan Royals to reignite their IPL 2023 playoffs campaign after the team had lost five of its last six matches.
Rajasthan found themselves in a must-win situation, which had been difficult to envision for a franchise that reached the final last year and which boasted a very good squad. Had they lost to hosts Kolkata Knight Riders on Thursday, the maximum points they could have gotten was 14 which would make their passage to the playoffs tricky, particularly for a team which had remained in the top four for much of the tournament.
Up stepped Yuzvendra Chahal with four wickets to become the most successful wicket-taker in the IPL’s 16-year history, before Yashasvi Jaiswal launched a supreme assault on KKR’s bowlers with 98* from 47 deliveries, replete with 12 fours and five sixes. Chahal’s third four-wicket haul this season undid whatever challenger KKR had hoped to mount and then Jaiswal made a mockery of a target of 150 as he, with some help from Sanju Samson, made this a one-sided chase.
You expected that at Eden Gardens, where spin has been productive, Chahal would have been the kind of bowler that worried KKR before this match and it was indeed he who pushed them off course, before Jaiswal walked out and toppled them during a chase of stunning takedown of 150.
Chahal entered this match level with Dwayne Bravo for the most wickets in the IPL and he chose this occasion to put himself in elite territory. Four overs, 25 runs and the wickets of Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh and Shardul Thakur. Smart bowling, some drift and turn, mostly impeccable lengths and that distinct urge to make a statement. Chahal started and ended his quota of overs bristling with intent and once he had ploughed through KKR’s batting, the match was decidedly poised in Rajasthan’s favour.
Chahal spoke during the innings break of how he had gotten to 187 IPL wickets because of the lows he had experienced. He said this matter-of-factly, a somewhat over-sized Purple Cap for most wickets this season perched on his head, and you could sense the underlying tone of satisfaction. Chahal remains the leading wicket-taker for Royal Challengers Bangalore by some distance, and his exit from the franchise after seven seasons was a puzzling one. In 2022, Chahal was the Purple Cap winner as RR made it to the final, and now in 2023, with the team in freefall before the Eden Gardens result, he heads the table once more with 21 wickets at 16.90 apiece.
By the time the match was sealed in the 14th over with Jaiswal’s 12th four, Chahal’s team-mate was within touching distance of the Orange Cap for most runs, his tally having swelled to 570 courtesy a boundary-fuelled 98*.
Rana has led KKR admirably this season, but last night he erred in deciding to open the bowling with his part-time offspin. Jaiswal tore into him immediately, hitting 26 runs off Rana to fall just one short of the overall IPL record for most runs in an opening over. This was a man possessed, and Jaiswal continued to attack KKR’s bowling on his way to reaching his fifty off just 13 deliveries.
Visibly rattled after Jos Buttler sacrificed his wicket after a poor call from Jaiswal, the 21-year-old decided he had to justify that dismissal and the result was startling. Harshit Rana was pulled behind square leg for six to take Jaiswal to 37 from nine balls, and in the next over Shardul was disdainfully greeted with three fours in a row. After five overs the score was 68, of which Jaiswal’s contribution was 62 from 23 deliveries.
You truly will not get to see such innings often in T20 cricket. This was a young opener in control of his batting, and the shots that flowed dripped with confidence. Cuts, drives and pulls flowed from his bat with the authority of a much more senior batsman than Jaiswal, and there was one six over extra cover that was reminiscent of Sourav Ganguly in his mid-90s prime. Thanks to Jaiswal’s onslaught, RR’s net run rate has improved by 0.63 to 0.633 and they are now at third on the leaderboard.
If they do, as expected, surge into the playoffs then May 11 at Eden Gardens will stand out as the day that RR got their mojo back.
