Nitish Rana’s batting blitz combined with a four-wicket haul by Sri Lankan spinner Wanindu Hasaranga led Rajasthan Royals to their first victory of this IPL season against Chennai Super Kings on Sunday.
Rajasthan depended on a 36-ball 81 by Rana to post 182-9 after being invited to bat first at their second home in Guwahati.
Hasaranga then turned on the heat with his leg-spin to help restrict Chennai to 176-6 and a six-run win to bounce back from two losses in the T20 tournament.
The left-handed Rana put on 82 for the second wicket with Sanju Samson to lay the foundations.
Afghanistan left-arm wrist spinner Noor Ahmad once again proved his worth as he broke the stand with the wicket of Samson, who is Rajasthan’s regular captain but playing only as a batsman due to an injury.
Rana reached his fifty in 21 balls and bludgeoned the bowlers with 10 fours and five sixes in his stay at the crease.
Veteran Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin cut short Rana’s knock as he had the batsman stumped to check Rajasthan’s surge.
Stand-in-skipper Riyan Parag hit 37 off 28 balls before being bowled by Sri Lankan pace bowler Matheesha Pathirana.
Pace spearhead Khaleel Ahmed dismissed Jofra Archer for a duck for his second wicket.
Noor and Pathirana both returned figures of 2-28.
In Chennai’s reply, Archer struck in the first over to have Rachin Ravindra caught behind for a duck as he celebrated his first wicket this IPL season.
Archer had a disastrous start to the tournament when he went for 76 in his four overs against Sunrisers Hyderabad for the league’s most expensive bowling figures ever.
Hasaranga struck with his first ball to send back Rahul Tripathi before skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad attempted to put the chase on track in his 63 off 44 balls.
Hasaranga claimed a wicket each in his next two overs including impact player Shivam Dube to dent the opposition chase but Gaikwad stood strong to reach his fifty.
Hasaranga dismissed Gaikwad in his last over to return figures of 4-35.
M.S. Dhoni attempted to see his team over the line in his late blitz of 16 but fell to a stunning catch in the deep by Shimron Hetmyer off Sandeep Sharma who defended 20 runs in the final over.
Ravindra Jadeja hit a valiant 32 not out as Chennai suffered their second straight loss after they started the season with a win over Mumbai Indians.
