India star Vaibhav Suryavanshi hit a very fast half-century in just 15 balls. This amazing performance, combined with great bowling earlier in the game, helped the Rajasthan Royals easily beat the Chennai Super Kings by eight wickets in their first match of the season on Monday.
The Rajasthan Royals used the cloudy weather to their advantage and bowled out the Chennai Super Kings for only 127 runs. It was a poor batting performance by CSK, who were forced to bat first by RR’s new captain, Riyan Parag, on a pitch that had been covered because of rain.15-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi showed everyone why he is a superstar. He attacked the CSK bowlers with incredible power, while his partner Yashasvi Jaiswal stayed calm and gave him most of the strike. Thanks to Suryavanshi’s hitting, the Royals won the game in just 12.1 overs.
Sooryavanshi became the third fastest to an IPL fifty with a couple of sixes off spinner Noor Ahmad. Following his fall, Jaiswal (38 not out off 36) and Riyan Parag (14 not out off 11) completed the formalities for Royals with plenty to spare.
While the home team ticked all boxes, CSK looked completely out of sorts in their opener and will need to go back to the drawing board. Both CSK and the Royals, the two bottom placed teams last season, had traded their star players Ravindra Jadeja and Sanju Samson ahead of the season.
It was a successful return to the Royals for Jadeja, who struck twice in his opening over. Samson, star of India’s T20 World Cup triumph, could not fire on his CSK debut. In an attempt to dispatch Nandre Burger over mid-wicket, he saw his off-stump getting dislodged with a sharp delivery that seamed away.
Both Nandre and Jofra Archer got the ball to talk in the powerplay. After Nandre got rid of Samson, Archer sent back CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad who backed away to go for an aerial stroke on the off-side only to see his stumps rattled.
Burger was on a hat-trick in the second over after surprising Ayush Mhatre with a bouncer that kissed the batter’s gloves on way to the keeper.
Jadeja was introduced in the eighth over. He trapped Sarfaraz Khan (17 off 12) in front with the latter missing a slog sweep while another Indian World Cup star Shivam Dube (6 off 4) failed to clear long-off four balls later, leaving CSK at 57-6 in eight overs.
CSK could not find a way back from thereon despite a handy effort from Jamie Overton (43 off 36). Royals’ medium pacer Brijesh Sharma dismissed Kartik Sharma on his debut. Archer, Burger and Jadeja ended with couple of wickets each.
