Sharjah: Sanju Samson's blistering 74, late theatrics from speedster Jofra Archer with the bat -- he carted four consecutive sixes -- and Rahul Tewatia's three-wicket burst propelled Rajasthan Royals (RR) to a comfortable 16-run win over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match here on Tuesday.
RR posted a mammoth 216/7 in 20 overs and three-time champions CSK finished with 200/6, despite a late surge from Faf du Plessis (72), at the Sharjah International Stadium.
Sanju smashed as many as nine sixes as he put up 121 runs with Steve Smith off just 57 balls for the second wicket after being put in to bat. Sanju brought up his quickest IPL fifty off just 19 balls with the help of one boundary and six hits over the fence. He took the CSK spin duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Piyush Chawla to the task.
CSK seemed to be clawing their way back into the match after Sanju's dismissal, but the wheels came off in the final over. Ngidi, who had accounted for Sanju earlier, leaked 30 runs due to a combination of Archer's belligerence and extras.
Archer smashed four consecutive sixes off the first four balls of the last over, two of which were off back to back no-balls.
Openers Shane Watson (33) and Murali Vijay (21) took CSK past 50 within the first six overs. Tewatia (3/37), however, ensured that CSK did not exploit the slim chance that was provided by Watson. He dismissed the veteran Australian and later Sam Curran, who was striking the ball cleanly. Shreyas Gopal got the wicket of Vijay in the very next over after Watson was dismissed.
Tom Curran got the wicket of the busy Kedar Jadhav (22), thanks to a sharp one-handed catch by wicketkeeper Sanju. Du Plessis then tried to score as many runs as he could from the 'death' overs. But when he fell for 72 off 37, CSK still needed 38 off seven balls to win. That became 38 off the last over when Ravindra Jadeja left the very next ball unharmed.
CSK skipper M S Dhoni (29 not out) hit three consecutive sixes in the last over which helped his team reduce the margin of defeat to 16 runs.
