RR vs CSK Highlights, IPL 2025: Dhoni falls short in chase as RR defeat CSK in thriller, collect first win of season

MS Dhoni leaves a steep bouncer from Sandeep Sharma alone for it to get called a wide, but perishes the very next ball. ‘Thala’. however, is dismissed the very next ball as Shimron Hetmyer pulls off what surely will rank as one of the top catches of the season, latching on to the ball near the cow corner region.

Jamie Overton later smashes the ball straight over the bowler’s head for a maximum to give the Royals a brief scare. Sandeep, however, is a quality death-overs bowler and bowls the Royals to their first victory of the season in the end.

Khaleel and Pathirana bowl the last two overs of the RR innings, and concede a combined 16 runs while collecting a wicket each – dismissing Jofra Archer and Shimron Hetmyer respectively with Khaleel also running Kumar Kartikeya out in his penultimate delivery of the evening.

Rajasthan Royals finish with a score of 182/9 as a result, and it’s over to their bowlers now, who have been smashed all over the park in each of their first two matches of the season.

Stay tuned for the chase, which will be getting underway shortly!

Jadeja grabs his first wicket of the evening at the start of his second over as the Sri Lankan all-rounder fails to get the distance that he was looking for with his slog-sweep. Even then, it required an incredible effort on Shankar’s part to complete the catch at deep midwicket.

Jamie Overton, however, drops a sitter after charging towards the circle from long on. Hetmyer sent the ball high up in the air without getting much distance, only to be handed a lifeline by the Englishman. Hetmyer later collects a boundary to bring up his team’s 150. RR 153/5 after 16

Nitish Rana misses out on what would have been his first IPL century after getting stumped off a wide delivery from R Ashwin. The wily off-spinner noticed him dancing down the track and decided to put the ball beyond his reach, even if he got a wide registered in his name.

Rana had struck the veteran off-spinner for a six and a four in the previous deliveries, and ended up paying the price for playing a shot too many. RR 129/3 after 12

Veteran wicket-keeper batter MS Dhoni and skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad, meanwhile, get the team into a quick huddle before stat of play.

Khaleel Ahmed, who had bowled a match-winning spell of 3/29 against MI at Chepauk, bowls the first over.

Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Nitish Rana, Riyan Parag(c), Dhruv Jurel(wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Wanindu Hasaranga, Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana, Sandeep Sharma, Tushar Deshpande; IMPACT SUBS: Kunal Singh Rathore, Shubham Dubey, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Kumar Kartikeya, Yudhvir Singh

Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Rachin Ravindra, Rahul Tripathi, Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Vijay Shankar, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni(wk), Jamie Overton, Ravichandran Ashwin, Noor Ahmad, Matheesha Pathirana, Khaleel Ahmed; IMPACT SUBS: Shivam Dube, Mukesh Choudhary, Devon Conway, Shaik Rasheed, Sam Curran

Skipper Riyan Parag, meanwhile, adds that he would have preferred to bowl first as well.

Stay tuned for live action, which should be getting underway soon!

Riyan Parag had led Rajasthan Royals in their previous matches of the season, against Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders, and will also be in charge for the upcoming game against Chennai Super Kings.

The Assamese batter, however, hasn’t been appointed to the role on a full-time basis, he simply is filling in for wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson, who currently is recovering from a finger injury and had played the first two matches as an ‘Impact Player’.

RR’s campaign began with a high-scoring clash against SRH in Hyderabad, where they were blown away by an onslaught from Ishan Kishan and Travis Head. Their bowling attack was brutally exposed with Jofra Archer (0/76 in four overs) recording the most expensive spell in IPL history.

Their second match against KKR in Guwahati further highlighted their batting vulnerabilities. After being asked to bat first, RR managed only 151/9. Despite a late push from Jofra Archer (16 off 7), their total proved insufficient. KKR’s chase was anchored by Quinton de Kock, who remained unbeaten on 97 off 61 balls. ( READ MORE)

It goes without saying that MS Dhoni did his legacy no favour by walking out to bat at No 9 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Friday, and only made it worse by not collecting a single boundary until the penultimate over of the chase.

From experts to fans, netizens slammed ‘Captain Cool’ for his bizarre decision, with many urging the 43-year-old to finally call time on his playing career. ( READ MORE )