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IPL 2018: Watson hundred powers Chennai Super Kings to big win

Shane Watson rattles up a 100 as Chennai Super Kings make a 200 plus total

Shane Watson of Chennai Super Kings in a punishing mood en route his hundred against Rajasthan Royals

Pune, April 20: Rahul Tripathi developed hard hands as a thick outside edge from Shane Watson off Stuart Binny flew at him at first slip. Tripathi grassed a simple offering and the match was never the same.

Watson, who was eight at that juncture, made his first 100 of this season - his third overall IPL hundred and Chennai Super Kings made a tall 204/5 here on Friday (April 20).

A run chase at over 10 is a steep task for any team and Rajasthan Royals found out the perils of it in the hard way ending up at 140, sliding to a 64-run defeat.

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The genesis of that victory was in the knock of Watson whose 106 arrived from 57 balls with nine fours and six sixes. At 36, Watson became the second player on the wrong side of the 30s after Chris Gayle, 38, to make a century in this IPL.

Dad's Army is having a field day, if you would!

Cut to Watson, the brawn in his batting often mask the brain element. The big Australian of course uses a lot of muscle but he also has a good sense of fielders' positions around him, allowing him to place the ball precisely where he wants.

Add to that, a fine range of shots and Watson can be quite destructive once those aforementioned elements come to right alignment. The first 50 for Chennai Super Kings cascaded in just over 4 overs and Watson made 37 off them.

The dismissal of Ambati Rayudu did not bring any relief to Royals as Suresh Raina, who rejoined the team after sitting out for two matches due to a calf niggle, made breezy 46 off 29 balls with nine fours.

The highlight of Raina's innings was when he smoked Ben Stokes for four successive fours in the sixth over. It was as much a testimony of Raina's timing as of the poor line of Stokes.

The England all-rounder veered too much on to the pads of Raina and the left-hander had just the task of placing the ball in the vacant areas on either side behind the wicketkeeper.

Raina, perhaps, wanted to take the cavalier way to his 50 but a lofted shot off leg spinner Shreyas Gopal neither attained the desired distance or elevation as K Gowtham took a brilliant forward diving catch in the deep.

The dismissal of Raina after adding 81 runs with Watson for the second wicket in a little over seven overs shackled the run flow to a good extent.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the big-hitting Sam Billings too perished to Shreyas Gopal, who was vastly impressive in his four-over spell - taking three wickets giving away only 20 runs.

From a massively ominous 131/2 in 11.5 overs, the Chennai Super Kings could add only 73 runs in the remaining nine overs to reach a total that looked at least 20 runs short of what they were poised to achieve.

But that hardly mattered. The Chennai Super Kings bowlers never really allowed any freebies to Royals' batsmen. Heinrich Klaasen, who was dropped in the first slip by Watson off Deepak Chahar, offered not more than a moment of coincidence as he was soon went back to the hut, bowled by Shardul Thakur.

Skipper Ajinkya Rahane played an ugly not-here, not-there swat to lose his stumps to Chahar. Sanju Samson never really got on top of a pull shot off Chahar as the ball nestled into the hands of Karn Sharma, who came in for Harbhjan Singh, after taking the shoulder of the bat.

With their top three walked back the dug out, Royals needed something big from Jos Butler and Ben Stokes. But on this night, they were powerless to upstage Chennai Super Kings and Watson.

Story first published: Friday, April 20, 2018, 23:42 [IST]
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