Rana, Hasaranga give Royals first points with tight win

Rajasthan Royals clinched a thrilling run victory over Chennai Super Kings to bring up their first win of IPL 2025. Starring with the bat for the Royals was Nitish Rana who hit a powerful 81 before Warindu Hasaranga helped defend the total with crucial strikes right through.

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Where was the match won?

While Rana’s onslaught in the powerplay set RR up to get a total that was above par, CSK had managed to pull things back at the fag end. In the chase, however, RR managed to keep things in control with regular strikes right through. The chief architect of that was Wanindu Hasaranga who struck at important junctures not allowing CSK to get away.

RAJASTHAN ROYALS

Powerplay - Nitish Rana runs amok Nitish Rana found himself coming in just the first over of the innings after Vashasvi Jaiswal skipped a simple catch to mid off. What started off well for Khaleel Ahmed and CSK, who had opted to bowl, soon took a turn for the worse. Rana hit the second ball he faced for a boundary to get going. Jamie Overton, making his IPL debut, was carted for 14 runs in his first over and 16 in his next as CSK struggled to get their lengths right. In a bid to shake up things, R. Ashwin was brought in. Rana employed the sweep behind square to good effect as RR picked up 19 in that over. Khaleel offered some respite with Ruturaj Gaikwad also placing with Ruturaj Gaikwad also being struck on the elbow once. After Archer’s maiden over to start, CSK had put on only 5 on the board after the first three overs. But gradually both Gaikwad and Rahul Tripathi found other ways to try the boundaries. They began to use the pace behind square on the onside and put the bowlers off their lengths. As a result, CSK got some useful boundaries in the latter half of the powerplay which helped get the chase back on track.

Middle overs - Hasaranga keeps CSK in check