Jaiswal, Ashwin secure second spot for RR

Yashasvi Jaiswal scored a stroke-filled half-century and Ravichandran Ashwin essayed a stirring cameo (40* off 23) as Rajasthan Royals chased down CSK's 150/6 in the final over to confirm their second-place finish. This win earns them the vacant slot for Qualifier 1, where they face Gujarat Titans at the Eden Gardens on May 24. CSK meanwhile, finished with their worst-ever IPL season, as the defeat on Friday was their 10th this campaign RR's flying start Jos Buttler's poor second half of the season extended but Yashasvi Jaiswal ensured that didn't deter RR's start to the chase. He hit seven of his eight fours in the early stages of the chase as RR flew to 52 for 1 in 6 overs, staying well on course in chase. Post-PowerPlay blues Like CSK, RR too endured tough times as soon as the field restrictions relaxed. Matheesha Pathirana bowled a wide down the leg side that went for a four on the second ball of the eighth over, but that was the last time RR got a boundary until 13.1. In this period, CSK tried to apply a spin choke with Mitchell Santner and Moeen Ali from either end. Santner took a sharp return catch to dismiss Sanju Samson cheaply, while Moeen cranked up the dot ball pressure and forced an error from Devdutt Padikkal. But once Padikkal fell, RR broke the left-left batting pair that played into Moeen's hands and sent out Ashwin ahead of Shimron Hetmyer. Solanki rattles, Ashwin finishes Ashwin brought RR's innings to life by tonking Moeen for a six and Jaiswal brought up his half-century. Leg spinner Prashant Solanki came on in the 15th over, giving left-handed Jaiswal a chance to tonk with the turn. He welcomed the youngster with a big down long on, but the bowling ploy brought Dhoni success. Solanki operated with the big leg-side boundary for the left-handers and tempted them to go big with boundary riders in the deep. First Jaiswal took the bait and hit one down Pathirana's throat at deep backward square leg, and then the returning Shimron Hetmyer found Devon Conway at deep midwicket in his next over. At that stage, CSK appeared to have the edge in the chase as RR still needed 39 off 22 balls. But Ashwin convincingly snatched it back, starting off by ending that Solanki over with a slog sweep that brought the equation to 32 off 18. Ashwin and Riyan Parag took 13 off the next over from Pathirana, with the former using the youngster's pace and bounce to guide the ball over the third man fielder who was inside the circle. The chase was well and truly turned back in RR's direction in the following over when Ashwin sent a Mukesh Choudhary delivery into the stands over deep midwicket. Ashwin then saw Pathirana's plans of going full and wide from a distance, and made room to slice one beyond backward point in the final over. Ashwin finished with a superlative 40* off 23, seeing the chase out from a tricky phase. About CSK's batting innings... Ruturaj Gaikwad and his early bugbear Left-arm pace has troubled CSK's leading run-getter in the PowerPlay, and once again saw the back of him tonight. Trent Boult was the benefactor, getting the left-armer's angle across the right-hander to induce an edge to Sanju Samson in the second over. Moeen vs Boult. What was that about? Leading up to the final over of the PowerPlay, Moeen Ali was already batting like he hadn't even once this season. In fact, he showed shades of his early 2021 form - the one which decimated attacks in the India leg last season. He'd already carved open the offside against Prasidh Krishna and toyed with R Ashwin's field changes by going over mid-on and then following up with an inside-out hit over extra cover to reach 33 off 15 by the end of the fifth over. Then came the fifth gear. 6 4 4 4 4 4 read the last over of the PowerPlay from Boult, with 26 runs coming through sublime whips and flicks and cuts and drives, that brought up his half-century. He exited the PP with 59 off 21 to his name, while CSK amassed 75 for 1. While Moeen unleashed hell at one end, opening batter Devon Conway enjoyed the best seat in the house, having faced just 9 of the first 36 balls for his 14 runs. RR tighten through the middle 6th over - 26 runs Overs 7 to 11 - 21 runs, 3 wickets CSK went from 75 for 1 in 6 overs to 96 for 4 in 11 as Rajasthan Royals clawed their way back through Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal, picking wickets of Conway and Ambati Rayudu respectively. There was no batting joy for N Jagadeeshan either, who in just his second game of the season, fell for 1 in the ninth over to Obed McCoy. RR's way of halting the Moeen juggernaut was to dismiss his batting partners, a method that found success through the middle overs. The slow going Moeen-Dhoni combine Though MS Dhoni stemmed the fall of wickets, he couldn't quite get going and help consolidate the start in the company of Moeen. RR bowled exceptionally well to keep both Dhoni and Moeen down in the second half of the innings, even as Dhoni gave the Brabourne stadium crowd a couple of moments to cheer with a four and a six in his 28-ball 26. Chahal, who bowled the penultimate over, sucked Dhoni into a false shot when CSK needed the big hits with a tossed up ball outside the off stump. The CSK captain could only drag it high and as far as Buttler at long on. Moeen, who had 70 off 31 at the halfway stage, only managed to add 23 more off the next 26 balls before falling for 93 on the first ball of the last over from McCoy. Such was the extent of RR's grip over the proceedings that the final over read as: W 0 1 0 1 2, taking CSK to only 150 for 6 in 20 overs - a total that proved insufficient in the end. Brief Scores: Chennai Super Kings 150/6 in 20 overs (Moeen Ali 93, MS Dhoni 26; Obed McCoy 2-20, Yuzvendra Chahal 2-26) lost to Rajasthan Royals 151/1 in 19.4 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 59, Ravichandran Ashwin 40*; Prashant Solanki 2-20) by 5 wickets