Sam Billings hails Shane Watson's performance, happy to have Suresh Raina back

When the home matches Chennai Super Kings were taken out of the city because of political tensions, the fans were angry. Their side had made their return to the tournament after facing a 2-year ban and then the change of venue was a hurtful situation for the fans. However, a few thousand of them decided to travel to Pune, their new home to support the side, a whole train named Whistle Podu Express embarked on a 26-hour journey to take the passionate fans to Pune from Chennai.

After winning the toss, Rajasthan Royals skipper Ajinkya Rahane opted to field, like most of the captains have done, see the target and chase it down. The start would’ve been a perfect one for the Royals but it wasn’t as local boy Rahul Tripathi spilled a rather easy chance of sending Shane Watson back to the pavilion.

Costly dropped catch

Over the years, we have seen how dropped catches have had massive impacts on the game. Watson didn’t miss the chance as he smashed the Royals bowlers at every corner during his 57-ball innings of 106 which included 6 sixes and 9 boundaries. This was tournament’s 2nd ton in as many days after no-century 12 days. Suresh Raina on his return after missing his first-ever game for CSL played a superb inning to stitch a partnership with the former Australian opener. CSK set them a target of 205.

The huge total meant that the Rahane-led side needed a great start in the powerplay. That wasn’t the case though as they could only manage 35 runs in the 6 overs, losing 3 wickets. Regular wickets meant that they were never in the game and eventually folded for 140 runs in 18.3 overs.

Watson was named the man of the match for his superb knock and was hailed on the social media platforms by fans and teammates. CSK’s middle order batsman Sam Billings took Twitter to praise the Watson knock. Billings was also pleased to have Suresh Raina back.

The Tweet:

Giiiddy upppp what a knock @ShaneRWatson33 & great to have @ImRaina back as well! Class win @ChennaiIPL ; next stop Hyderabad! ? #WhistlePodu ??

— Sam Billings (@sambillings) April 20, 2018