New Delhi, May 20 (IANS) Pacers Akash Madhwal and Yudhvir Singh Charak picked three-fers each to help Rajasthan Royals (RR) restrict Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to 187/8 in their 20 overs at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Tuesday.

While Yudhvir, coming in for Fazalhaq Farooqi, rocked in the power-play to pick 3-47, Madhwal nailed yorkers at will and used some reverse swing at the back end to end with 3-29. After giving away only 17 runs in last three overs, RR will need to chase down 188 to avoid finishing at the bottom of the points table.

For CSK, Ayush Mhatre and Dewald Brevis hit 43 and 42 respectively, as they posted a competitive total after being reduced to 78/5 in 7.4 overs. The majorly yellow jersey wearing crowd were dejected early on when Devon Conway chipped to mid-off off Yudhvir, while Kwena Maphaka timed his back-pedal from mid-on to perfection to take Urvil Patel’s catch, giving the pacer his second wicket of the over.

The teenaged Mhatre delighted CSK-supporting fans by pulling and lofting Tushar Deshpande for a brace of boundaries, before Ravichandran Ashwin glanced and then flicked Yudhvir beautifully off the front foot for four and six respectively. Mhatre capitalised on the free hit by backing away to pull Yudhvir for six, before slashing him through cover for four, as 24 runs came off fourth over.

The introduction of Maphaka didn’t change matters as Mhatre slashed and lofted him for a brace of boundaries. He took a liking to Deshpande’s pace by swiping, pulling and upper-cutting him for a hat-trick of fours. But in a bid to hit Deshpande down the ground, Mhatre didn’t time the loft and was caught by diving long-on, as his 56-run stand with Ashwin came to an end.

CSK again lost wickets in quick succession as Ashwin lofted to deep mid-wicket off Wanindu Hasaranga, while Ravindra Jadeja flicked uppishly to short mid-wicket and become Yudhvir’s third scalp. Brevis wowed the Delhi crowd via four jaw-dropping boundaries – with his flat pulled six off Riyan Parag and lofting Yudhvir for a maximum with a bottom-handed whip being the standouts.

RR eventually dried the runs towards Brevis, and that resulted in him losing his off-stump to Madhwal. With Shivam Dube hammering four boundaries, including two sixes off Hasaranga, and crowd favourite MS Dhoni hammering a six down the ground off the leg-spinner, CSK managed to touch 180. But RR squeezed the run flow from 18th over – resulting in Dube and Dhoni falling to Madhwal in the final over – as 17 runs came off the last three overs.

Brief Scores: Chennai Super Kings 187/8 in 20 overs (Ayush Mhatre 43, Dewald Brevis 42; Akash Madhwal 3-29, Yudhvir Singh Charak 3-47) against Rajasthan Royals

–IANS

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