Shane Watson scored the first century of Pepsi Indian Premier League 6 to single-handedly power Rajasthan Royals to an imposing 185 for four against mighty Chennai Super Kings here on Monday.
Watson entertained the crowd at the M A Chidambaram stadium with some brilliant strokeplay before finishing at 101 off just 61 deliveries. He decorated his innings with six fours and as many fours.
Towards the end, Stuart Binny played a 22-ball unbeaten 36-run cameo to further help Rajasthan’s cause.
Except for Ravichandran Ashwin (2/20), all Chennai bowlers bled runs as Watson went hammer-and-tonks from the word go. Apart from Ashwin, Dwayne Bravo (2/36) also picked up two wickets for the hosts.
Riding on Watson’s brilliant strokeplay, the Royals got off to a rollicking start after opting to bat.
Watson and Ajinkya Rahane (16), who played the second fiddle, shared 71 runs off 44 balls for the opening stand.
Watson went ballistic from the onset and slaughtered the Chennai bowlers, except for Ashwin, with consummate ease.
Watson did not let go any scoring chance as he punished anything that was bowled full or short to him.
He smacked Mohit Sharma for a six and a four to pick up 14 runs off the third over. Watson meted out the same treatment to Chris Morris and Ravindra Jadeja to score identical 16 runs of the fifth and seventh over.
Ashwin brought Chennai back into the game with two quick wickets to put a brake on Rajasthan’s scoring.
The wily off-spinner first bowled Rahane to break the dangerous-looking opening partnership and then dismissed Dishant Yagnik, caught-and-bowled, in the next over.
Rajasthan skipper Rahul Dravid too failed to make an impact. He was completely foxed by a slower delivery from Bravo and could only manage to lob a simple catch to Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
But the fall of wickets had little effect on Watson who went about his business in style. He was particularly severe on Jadeja as he clobbered the left-arm spinner for two sixes to pick up 18 runs off the 17th over.
Soon after notching up his 100 off just 60 balls, Watson perished in search of quick runs, caught by Hussey off Bravo.
But Binny, who struck three boundaries and a six, took over from where Watson left and used his long handle to great effect to help Rajasthan go past 180-run mark.
Courtesy : The Hindu