T20 2018: Chennai crush Rajasthan by 64 runs

Shane Watson PicAFPOpener Shane Watson hit a fantastic 106run knock as Chennai thrashed Rajasthan by 64 runs here on Friday to register their third win in four games in the T20 tournament Veteran Australian allrounder Watson took just 51 deliveries to bring up his third IPL century guided by nine boundaries and six sixes to propel Chennai to a massive 2045 at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium which is the southern franchises new home venue In reply Rajasthan were bowled out for 140 in 183 overs as they suffered second straight loss after winning the first twoPut in to bat Chennai were off to a decent start as openers Watson and Ambati Rayudu 12 shared a 50run partnership for the opening wicket in 42 overs Medium pacer Ben Laughlin drew the first blood for Rajasthan as he sent back Rayudu in the fifth over Watson was then joined by Suresh Raina and the duo stitched together an 81run partnership for the second wicket Raina chipped in with a crucial 47run knock before falling in the 12th over to a Shreyas Gopal delivery which left Chennai on 1312K Gowtham Stuart Binny and Ben Stokes were severely punished by Raina and Watson The Australian hit spinner Gowtham for at three sixes while leftarm medium pacer Jaydev Unadkat also got hit for two sixes by the retired international Chennai then lost the wickets of Mahendra Singh Dhoni 5 and Sam Billings 3 with the addition of another 30 runs It was leggie Shreyas again who struck to dismiss both the Chennai battersMeanwhile Watson kept the scoreboard ticking and added 41 runs with Dwayne Bravo to take CSK past the 200run mark Bravo remained unbeaten on 24 runs facing 16 balls The Australian allrounder however fell in the last over but it was too late for Rajasthan as Chennai posted a massive 205run target against themFor Rajasthan Shreyas was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 320 while Australian Laughlin bagged a couple of wickets conceding 38 runs During the chase Rajasthan lost wickets at regular intervals and never looked like to be in contention Their start to the innings was quite poor Deepak Chahars awaymoving ball was edged to first slip by Heinrich Klassen but Watson dropped the catch coming at his chest height in the second delivery of the first over However Shardul Thakur removed the South African who was bowled in the fifth delivery of the second over with the visiting sides score at 20 In the following over Chahar dismissed Sanju Samson 2 as the Kerala batsman failed to handle a bouncer managing it to touch it with the topend of the bat Chahar then dismissed Ajinkya Rahane 16 off 11 when the latter missed the line attempting a crossbat stroke leaving his side at 323 in 43 overs The writing was on the wall for Rajasthan and a 45run fourthwicket stand between Englishmen Ben Stokes 45 off 37 and Jos Buttler 22 off 17 could do little to give them some hopes Buttler perished as the ball went up in the air after he failed to time a rising delivery from medium pacer Dwayne Bravo Imran Tahir took an easy catch to end the partnership with Rajasthan at 774 in 101 oversBravo then sent back Rahul Tripathi 5 before lefthander Stokes was caught on the leg side by Sam Billings as he tried to slog sweep legspinner Tahir The wicket of Stokes was nail in the coffin for the visitors who were reduced to 1116 in 135 overs Watson then got the wicket of K Gowtham 1 and Bravo dismissed Stuart Binny 10 to complete the formalities for ChennaiBrief Scores Chennai 2045 Shane Watson 106 Suresh Raina 46 Shreyas Iyer 320 vs Rajasthan 140 all out in 183 overs Ben Stokes 45 Jos Buttler 22 Karn Sharma 213 Dwayne Bravo 216 Shardul Thakur 218Catch up on all the latest sports news and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever