Ashwin refrains from bowling the ball, as he was not aiming for a run-out at the bowler’s end due to Conway’s absence of backing up. Instead, he intended to observe Rahane’s actions, who was moving down the pitch with a shimmying motion. After that, The crowd cheers as Rahane steps away, despite Ashwin being the local boy, the majority of support seems to be for Rahane.
The game is currently evenly poised. Although some of the RR players are carrying towels, the fact that none have used them suggests that the dew has not yet affected the playing conditions. RR would want the conditions to remain as they are since they still have 9 overs of spin left to exploit. The required run-rate of 9.5 should not be a cause for concern for CSK at this moment.
RR may be disappointed with their final score of 175, despite having a strong foundation when Padikkal and Buttler were at the crease. However, a single over bowled by Jadeja turned the game around as Padikkal and Samson were dismissed, and Ashwin was dropped off the first ball.
This made it challenging for Buttler and Ashwin to increase the run rate, but Ashwin hit two crucial sixes off Akash Singh to provide some impetus. Buttler, on the other hand, could not maintain his momentum and was dismissed after scoring fifty runs.
Hetmyer’s quick cameo at the end helped RR reach a competitive total, which seemed unlikely earlier. Credit must be given to CSK’s spinners for pulling things back, and MS Dhoni for showing trust in Moeen Ali despite his poor fielding, including two drops and a missed run-out opportunity.
Ali repaid that faith by dismissing the important wicket of Buttler. With the pitch favoring spinners, RR has the advantage of having three world-class spinners in their team, with Zampa available as the Impact substitute.