At the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Tuesday night, RR defeated the CSK by a commanding six wickets to round off their IPL 2025 campaign. Vaibhav Suryavanshi, a 14-year-old wonder, led the chase with a 57-run performance, continuing his incredible rookie season with yet another outstanding knock.
Anshul Kamboj caused RR to lose Yashasvi Jaiswal early for 36 while chasing 188. However, Suryavanshi and captain Sanju Samson (41), who combined for 98 runs, steadied the pursuit. But both fell quickly after each other, Suryavanshi to a mistimed smash and Samson to a carrom ball from Ravi Ashwin.
From there, Shimron Hetmyer and Dhruv Jurel took control. With 17 balls remaining, Jurel completed the chase in spectacular fashion by hitting 31 off just 12 balls, including a six and four in the 17th over.
Sanju Samson had previously chosen to bowl first. CSK faced early difficulties in their innings as they lost Urvil Patel and Devon Conway on the powerplay. The innings was stabilised by Ayush Mhatre (43) and Dewald Brevis (42) but CSK was unable to completely capitalise. CSK was held to 187/8 by Akash Madhwal’s strong performance in the final overs. The Chennai Super Kings are probably going to finish last in the IPL for the first time after this loss.
Talking Points
1. CSK batters are destroyed by Yudhvir Singh and Akash Madhwal:
Yudhvir Singh Charak and Akash Madhwal, the pace combo for the Rajasthan Royals, combined for six wickets to completely destroy the CSK batting order. With a career-best 3/47, Charak made an early impression by dismissing Devon Conway and Urvil Patel in the second over and dismissing Ravindra Jadeja in the seventh. Madhwal excelled in the last overs, but Charak’s powerplay spell placed CSK on the defensive. Despite having a lacklustre first over, he recovered admirably to dismiss Dewald Brevis and the dangerous pair of Shivam Dube and MS Dhoni in the last over, finishing with figures of 3/29.
2. Vaibhav Suryavanshi, young, impresses once more:
In their last league match of the season, RR was led home by Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, their young batting prodigy, who once again delivered a brilliant innings. The southpaw laced his innings with four boundaries and four sixes in his 33-ball 57. He and Sanju Samson’s 98-run partnership put the Royals in control and ultimately led to a convincing victory.
3. The Rajasthan Royals had a strong finish.
RR made sure to end their IPL 2025 season on a positive note by winning their fourth game of the year, even if they were eliminated from the playoff chase early on. However, even though they still have one game left, CSK is currently in 10th place and could finish the season there.
Who Said What?
MS Dhoni, CSK (Losing Captain):
It was a good total, Brevis’ innings was really nice, taking risks, that’s the phase we want to improve … the run rate was up but we lost one or tweo more wickets at the start. Kamboj is good, he gets a lot of movement, his balls hit you harder than what you might expect, he’s good … he’s done well, bowling three overs in the powerplay is tough. (On younger players) They have to try for the consistency, but if you are looking for 200-plus strike rate then consistency is hard to get …. they have the ability to hit sixes at any stage … don’t take pressure, when the expectations rise … learn from senior players and coaching staff .. it’s about reading the game … this would be my advice to all the youngsters wo have done well.
Sanju Samson, RR (Winning Captain):
It feels good, to be honest we were thinking about setting a target but I felt there’s no hiding in this game, let’s go out and chase it and prove a point. We have a young bowling attack, missing Jofra, Sandeep Sharma … lots of promise for the future. Madhwal did not play a lot of games, he has been working closely with Shane Bond, doing a lot of spot bowling, and he has got the results now. Very happy for him … the margins of error are so less it’s hard to see why we had such a bad season, we will sit down after a couple of weeks to review what went wrong and come back stronger … I don’t have words for him (Suryavanshi) … today when the middle overs were going on, he was smart in picking his options, it’s a stunning combination, having that potential and game awareness.
Yashasvi Jaiswal 36 (19):
It was pretty good, we were trying our best and I really enjoyed it. There has been few injuries with the team, Sanju bhai came back after a few games and it was a good game for us, we will take the confidence going forward. (on Suryavanshi) He played really well, he played amazingly today, we have seen how he has been playing throughout the tournament. (on the bowlers) They have bowled pretty well, we have a clear plan where we have to bowl. I was telling them whatever plans you have, to go with a clear head and do it.
India
