IPL 2023 | Who said what ft. Sanju Samson, MS Dhoni
Rajasthan Royals scripted their third win of IPL 2023 and earned top spot in the points table with a three-run victory over Chennai Super Kings at Chepauk. Both the captains analysed the mistakes committed by teams during the game while Sandeep Sharma revealed his plans to bowl the last over.
Rajasthan Royals appears to be one of the strongest teams on paper and they justified their reputation with their performance on Wednesday at Chepauk. The franchise secured their third victory of IPL 2023 and jumped up to the first position in the points table. The contest boiled down to the last over but some brilliant deliveries from Sandeep Sharma helped RR earn two points. Jos Buttler scored a half-century for RR while Devdutt Padikkal contributed 38 runs in the game.
Ravindra Jadeja and MS Dhoni tried to pull off a victory for CSK in the second innings but the latter missed a dream finish on the last ball when five runs were required to win. Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal picked a couple of wickets each.
Reflecting on the result, the winning skipper, Sanju Samson praised the bowlers for keeping their cool in the end and stated that they did a good job.
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.
MS Dhoni was of the opinion that CSK lacked strike rotation in the middle overs and that was the key reason behind the team’s defeat.
I think in the middle overs we needed a bit more strike rotation, there wasn't much for the spinners but they had experienced spinners and we could not rotate strike. It was not that difficult and the ownership (of the loss) should come from the batters. It was good that we could reach striking distance (of the target) as we were the last pair. It really affects NRR when you get to the last phase of the tournament. You see the field, see the bowler and what the bowler is trying to do, after that just stand still and wait for them to commit the mistake, if they bowl in good areas then good luck to them. I would wait for it and that is something which has worked for me, you need to back your strength and my strength is to hit straight.
Ravichandran Ashwin was awarded the Player of the Match as he scored 30 runs with the bat after being promoted while picking a couple of wickets with the ball.
I surprise people I guess. Whenever I walk out to bat, people assume I just took that decision and came out, but that's a role given to me, we lost Sanju and I had to do a job. I am far better at judging my strengths, I take a few balls to get going. Every batting innings, I am padded up from the start. It's not an easy thing but it is good. I came off with good Test form.
Sandeep Sharma was bowling the last over of the game with Dhoni and Jadeja at the crease. However, he kept his cool on the last two deliveries and didn’t allow the batters to free their arms. Sandeep revealed after the match that he tried to bowl away from the reach of the batters.
I wanted to deliver yorkers in the last over. I was bowling good yorkers in the nets. The leg-side was big, but I missed my mark and bowled a couple of low full-tosses and both went for sixes. Then I changed my angle and it worked. I bowled over the wicket to Jadeja and I wanted to keep it away from his reach.