Moeen Ali struck a 57-ball 93 but Chennai Super Kings lost momentum and struggled to reach 150/6 in 20 overs against Rajasthan Royals in their final IPL 2022 match at the Brabourne Stadium.
The Chennai innings had two distinct parts -- a blazing start courtesy of Moeen Ali (93 off 57 balls, 4x13, 6x3) and a crawling finish as they ended with a sub-par score on a wicket on which the ball was coming to a tad slow. It was s strange innings as CSK scored 75 runs in the first six overs and 75 in the next 14.
Trent Boult got Ruturaj Gaikwad (2) off the last ball of the first over but things went haywire for him and Rajasthan Royals after that as Moeen Ali waded into them. In a brilliant display of power-hitting in the powerplay, the England all-rounder hammered his half-century in 19 balls as CSK ended the powerplay with 75/1 on board.
Moeen Ali added 89 runs for the second wicket with Devon Conway (16) and then raised 51 runs for the fifth wicket with skipper MS Dhoni but CSK failed to recover.
But the wicket of Conway and some superb bowling by Rajasthan Royal's spinners Ravi Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal, and seamer Obed McCoy put the brakes on their galloping innings. CSK lost a couple of quick wickets and could manage only 42 runs in the middle overs. But the slog overs were even worse as they could score only 33 runs in the last five, thus ending with a sub-par score.
Obed McCoy was the best of the Rajasthan Royals bowlers, claiming 2/20 in his four overs while Yuzvendra Chahal claimed 2/26. R Ashwin ended with 1/28 in his four overs.
CSK wanted to end their IPL 2022 campaign on a blazing note. The way Moeen Ali started blasting fours and sixes in the powerplay, it looked like the four-time champions would achieve their target and set a 200-plus score.
Ali came out firing on all cylinders and used the fielding restrictions in the first six overs to good effect. He got into the act in the fourth over of the innings, hitting Prasidh Krishna for 18 runs -- three boundaries and a six -- making room and pulling the fullish delivery behind square for maximum.
In the next over (5th of the innings), he hammered Ravi Ashwin for two fours and one six and blasted Trent Boult for 26 in the sixth over -- five boundaries and a six.
He and Devon Conway raised 89 runs for the second wicket off 39 deliveries before the South African batter got out, missing a sweep off an off-break by Ashwin. Given out, Conway reviewed the decision but could not get it reversed. Conway, who struck Trent Boult for a four and a six in an over, was out for 16 off 13 deliveries -- Chennai was 85/2 in the eighth over.
CSK lost some momentum as they lost two more wickets in quick succession, Riyan Parag caught Narayanan Jagadeesan (i) off Obed McCoy while Ambati Rayudu (3), who was brought into the playing XI in place of Shivam Dube, was caught by Devdatt Padikkal off Yuzvendra Chahal.
CSK were 94/3 at the halfway stage. Ali who had come out firing on all cylinders got subdued as wickets continued to tumble around him. He found a good partner in M.S Dhoni and they added 51 runs but in the end, it was not enough.
Moeen Ali was out in the 20th over, caught by Riyan Parag at long-off on the bowling of McCoy, missing his century by seven runs and CSK were left well short of a score they would have liked.
Brief scores: Chennai Super Kings 150/6 in 20 overs (Moeen Ali 93, M.S Dhoni 26; Obed McCoy 2/20, Yuzvendra Chahal 2/26) v Rajasthan Royals.