CSK reduce Watson's ton to rubble
The Rajasthan Royals suffered an agonising defeat against the Chennai Super Kings on Monday, losing by five wickets and one ball to spare as MS Dhoni's side managed to negate Shane Watson's century.
The Rajasthan Royals suffered an agonising defeat against the Chennai Super Kings on Monday, losing by five wickets and one ball to spare as MS Dhoni's side managed to negate Shane Watson's century.
It was the first ton of the tournament and the Australian scored his 101 runs off just 61 balls, guiding his side to 185 for four. The home side then relied on Mike Hussey and Suresh Raina as they reached the target with one ball to go, ironically off Watson's bowling.
The scoreline and ball remaining was the same as the previous day's game between Kings XI Punjab and the Pune Warriors, where David Miller did the job for the Kings, and this game was equally thrilling as Chennai moved to the top of the table.
The Royals' innings started very quickly, with Watson opening alongside Ajinkya Rahane. The first wicket fell with the score on 71 and Rahane had only contributed 16 of those runs, illustrating Watson's dominance.
Dishant Yagnik and Rahul Dravid then fell for single figures, leaving Watto to motor along on his own until Stuart Binny joined him. The Indian all-rounder added 36 off 22 balls, while Watson continued to strike his six sixes and six boundaries.
The Chennai knock got off to a poor start as Murali Vijay fell for just three runs, with the score on 22. This was a blessing in disguise though as Raina joined Mr Cricket in the middle and they proceeded to put together a partnership worth 90 in 10 overs.
Raina was dismissed by James Faulkner, trapped LBW for 51 in the 13th over, and the Aussie paceman ended up with three of the five wickets to fall, including Hussey and Dhoni.
But even though the main hitters had departed, Dwayne Bravo was up to the task as they needed 11 off the final over. The West Indian struck a huge six off Watson, and then accumulated doubles as the home side scraped home.
Chennai Super Kings: M Vijay, M Hussey, S Raina, S Badrinath, MS Dhoni, R Jadeja, DJ Bravo, C Morris, R Ashwin, J Holder, M Sharma
Rajasthan Royals: S Watson, A Rahane, R Dravid, S Binny, B Hodge, H Yagnik, J Faulkner, K Cooper, R Shukla, A Chandila, S Trivedi
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