Rajasthan Royals (RR) maintained their good momentum late in the season with a strong six-wicket victory over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the 62nd match of IPL 2025 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, aided by both a superb batting effort as well as a definitive, match-winning bowling performance by pacer Akash Madhwal, as RR chased 188 with 17 balls remaining.
After winning the toss and deciding to bowl first, RR took full advantage of CSK’s batting innings. Yudhvir Singh grimly shook the CSK top-order with a fiery spell of bowling that produced 3 wickets for 47 runs, including Devon Conway and Urvil Patel, providing a dreadful start to CSK. Despite a rapid 43 from 20 balls from Ayush Mhatre and a solid 42 from Dewald Brevis, CSK could find no meaningful partnerships to get momentum back into their innings.
Shivam Dube (39 off 32) and MS Dhoni (16 off 17) tried to come to the rescue, but Akash Madhwal’s late burst (3/29) and series of wickets thwarted their efforts. CSK finished their innings with 187-8, which on some occasions could be a respectable total to defend; however, anything against the confident Royals has got away from CSK.
In response, RR got off to a blazing start with Yashasvi Jaiswal scoring 36 runs off 19 balls. However, the star of the match was the debutant, Vaibhav Suryavanshi with a brilliant 57 off 33, including four fours and four sixes. Along with Sanju Samson (41 off 31), they added 98 runs for the second wicket, steering RR in the right direction in the chase.
While CSK spinners Ravichandran Ashwin (2/41) and Noor Ahmad (1/42) did try to slow RR down, Dhruv Jurel made sure that wasn’t the case, scoring a quickfire 31* runs off just 12 balls, which secured the win quite easily. Shimron Hetmyer (12* off 5) also chimed in to finish the game with 2 big shots.
Akash Madhwal was very deserving of the Player of the Match award for the damage he did to CSK’s total. He also has the most points in Cricinfo MVP with a total of 73.99.
This victory has kept the Rajasthan Royals in the hunt for the playoffs but pushed CSK into the danger zone of elimination as they remain the bottom of the table. With just 2 more league games left, every contest for teams in the middle of the table has now become a do-or-die match.
Read More: Sunrisers Hyderabad Stun Lucknow with Blistering Chase Led by Abhishek Sharma
CSK vs RR – Score Summary
CSK: 187/8
Ayush Mhatre 43 (20)
Dewald Brevis 42 (25)
Shivam Dube 39 (32)
Akash Madhwal 3/29 (4 Overs)
Yudhvir Singh 3/47 (4 Overs)
Wanindu Hasaranga 1/27 (4 Overs)
RR: 188/4
Vaibhav Suryavanshi 57 (33)
Samson Samson 41 (31)
Yashasvi Jaiswal 36 (19)Ravichandran Ashwin 2/41
Anshul Kamboj 1/21
Noor Ahmed 1/42
Result: RR won by 6 wickets
