Shane Watson’s superlative ton puts CSK on top of the table

CSK bounced back from its defeat to KXIP in the previous match and beat Rajasthan Royals by 64 runs.
Shane Watson’s superlative ton puts CSK on top of the table
Shane Watson’s superlative ton puts CSK on top of the table
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Shane Watson smashed a tournament high 106 off 57 balls to give the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) a comfortable 64-run win over Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the IPL match played at Pune on Friday. 

This was the first match for CSK being played in Pune after their home matches were shifted out of Chennai. 

CSK racked up a mammoth total of 204/5 in their 20 overs, thanks to Watson’s century, which was the second of this season’s IPL.  

Watson was in fact dropped in the very first over of the game by Rahul Tripathi at slip. He then went on to unleash an onslaught on the Rajasthan bowlers that eventually was the deciding factor in the game.

After putting on 50 for the first wicket with Ambati Rayudu, Watson was joined in the middle by Suresh Raina who came back into the squad after nursing a calf injury. The pair put on 81 runs in just 44 balls. Raina was dismissed in the 12th over for 46. At this point, CSK were on course for a score close to 230. After a hiccup towards the latter stages in the innings, Dwayne Bravo joined Watson in the middle. The pair put on 44 in 28 balls to take CSK over the 200 run mark.

Watson, who was playing against one of his former teams, was named man of the match. During the presentation he said, “There's no doubt I had some extra motivation, playing against Rajasthan. Incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to play for CSK, so happy to repay the faith.” On the dropped catch, he said, “I'm not sure. It's just how it goes sometimes, but the other little things fell my way tonight."

Shreyas Gopal was the lone star for the Royals with the ball. He finished with exceptional figures of 3 for 20 in his 4 overs, amidst the carnage. Ben Laughlin picked up the other two wickets to fall in the CSK innings. 

CSK, which is known to be one of the better bowling sides in the tournament, followed up Watson’s batting performance with a professional display on the field. Rajasthan were never able to get going and were bowled out for a mere 140 in 18.5 overs. Ben Stokes and Jos Butler were the only players to cross 20.

Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Karn Sharma and Dwayne Bravo all picked up 2 wickets each for CSK, while Shane Watson and Imran Tahir picked up a wicket as well.

It was the perfect response from CSK to bounce back from their defeat against KXIP in their previous match. This victory now puts them on top of the IPL points table. Meanwhile, Rajasthan Royals are at 5th spot after the loss.

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