IPL: Rana blasts 21-ball half-century as RR upset CSK

Rajasthan Royals beat Chennai Super Kings by six runs in Guwahati on Sunday, with Nitesh Rana crushing a 21-ball half-century to guide his side to their first win of the 2025 Indian Premier League campaign.

Winless from two matches heading into Sunday’s fixture, RR were heavy underdogs across IPL betting apps.

However, Rana was in no mood to roll over, as the 31-year-old entered the fray after just four balls and plundered 81 runs from 36 balls over the subsequent 11 overs.

While Rana fell short of his maiden IPL century, he built a strong platform for RR from which they kicked on to make 182/9.

Sanju Samson (20 from 16), Riyan Parag (37 from 28) and Shimron Hetmyer (19 from 16) were the other main contributors, with a late collapse of 5/16 in the final 13 balls the only reason Rajasthan did not record a 200-plus total.

Cricket bookmakers had odds to win sitting even at the midway point of the match and Chennai kept it that way for the majority of the chase.

Rachin Ravindra (0 from 4) got out early after two good innings to start his IPL season, before Rahul Tripathi (23 from 19) and Ruturaj Gaikwad (63 from 44) built slowly.

Gaikwad kept CSK on track for a late flourish but fell heading into the death overs, leaving MS Dhoni (16 from 11) to finish the task for Chennai.

The stage was set as India’s best-ever finisher held the strike with 20 needed from the final over.

However, a brilliant catch from Hetmyer right on the boundary off the first ball muted CSK’s hopes, with Ravindra Jadeja (32* from 22) and Jamie Overton (11* from 4) unable to close out the match after Dhoni’s exit.

“In the powerplay, during their batting, Nitish batted well, but we were not proactive,” CSK captain Gaikwad said afterwards.

“He was going behind square, so we had to be more ahead. 

“It is always about one hit, and we were one hit away from crossing the line. 

“We gave eight to 10 runs in misfields, and that is something we are looking to improve but that is something that is costing us. 

“180 was chaseable. It was still a good wicket. If you timed the ball well, it was a good wicket.”

Chennai, who were favourites to win the 2025 IPL after prevailing in their opening match, now slip to +800 at Nags.bet with a 1-2 record this season.

Rajasthan are also 1-2 in IPL 2025 but remain on the last line of outright betting at +2000.

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