Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson admitted his team was not safe with MS Dhoni going all guns blazing after their three-run win against Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Wednesday.
CSK needed 21 runs off the final over with Dhoni on strike against Sandeep Sharma. The right-arm medium pacer bowled two wides but nailed the yorker on his first legal delivery of the over.
However, Sandeep missed his mark on the next two deliveries and Dhoni made most of the low full tosses to bring down the equation to seven from three. Sharma then was able to nail three yorkers to close out the match as he held his nerves towards the end.
Dhoni scored a fine cameo of 32 runs from 17 balls with the help of three sixes and one four whereas Ravindra Jadeja added 15-ball 25.
Samson feels the bowlers did well towards the fag end of the innings as they were able to defend 175. Ravichandran Ashwin was the pick of the bowlers for RR as he returned with figures of 2-25 in his quota of four overs whereas Yuzvendra Chahal took 2-27 in his allotted four overs. Furthermore, Ashwin also scored a crucial knock of 30 runs after he was promoted in the batting order.
Sanju Samson said in the post-match presentation, “You have to give credit to the boys. The bowlers kept their cool at the end and bowled really well, we also held on to our catches. I don’t have good memories at Chepauk, never won here and wanted to win today. The ball was gripping and hence, we brought Zampa in as the impact player. We had a good powerplay with Rutu getting out and the thought was if we can get out of the powerplay without giving away too much then we have the spinners to do the job. Last two overs were tensed, I tried to push it deep but you are never safe with that guy (Dhoni). You have to have respect for that guy and to what he can do. Nothing works against him.”
This was Rajasthan Royals’ first win at the Chepauk since 2008 and with this win, they climbed to the top of the points table.
Rajasthan Royals will face defending champions Gujarat Titans on Sunday at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.
