'I surprise people'

'Whenever I walk out to bat, people assume I just took that decision and came out, but that's a role given to me.'

Rajasthan Royals jumped to the top of the IPL 2023 standings after edging four-time champions Chennai Super Kings by three runs in the IPL 2023 match at the M A Chidambaram stadium in Chennai on Wednesday, April 12, 2023.

Chennnai boy Ravichandran Ashwin was Royals' star performer and rightly named player of the match.

Put into bat, Royals scored 175/8 with Jos Buttler hitting 52 from 36 balls. Devdutt Padikkal made 38 and Shimron Hetmyer smashed a quickfire 30 from 18 balls at the end.

Batting at No 5, Ashwin scored 30 from 22 balls, with two sixes and a four, putting on 47 runs for the fourth wicket with Buttler to give the Royals innings much needed momentum in the middle overs.

Ashwin enjoyed a huge slice of luck when he was dropped off the first ball he faced, with Moeen Ali putting down a straightforward chance at slip off Ravindra Jadeja in the ninth over.

Ashwin struggled to get going on a pitch offering a lot assistance to the spinners as he struggled to 10 from 15 balls, before breaking free with a boundary off Mahesh Theekshana in the 14th over.

Ashwin then slammed left-arm pacer Akash Singh for back to back sixes, but perished off the last ball of the same over.

With the ball too, Ashwin didn't have a great start. He was hit for a six by Ajinkya Rahane as the first over went for 10 runs. But he extracted revenge in his next over, getting Rahane leg before for 30 with the carrom ball going straight on to beat the CSK right-hander's attempted sweep.

In his third over, he accounted for left-hander Shivam Dube, who also fell LBW. Ashwin finished with figures of 2/25 in four overs, which included 10 dot balls.

His spin partner Yuzvendra Chahal (2/27) squeezed CSK in the middle overs.

With 54 runs needed from the final three overs, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (32 from 17 balls) and Ravindra Jadeja (25 from 15 balls) went on the attack to keep CSK's hopes alive.

Dhoni hit pacer Sandeep Sharma for back to back sixes in the final over, but failed to apply the finishing touch with five runs needed from the final ball as he could only dig out the yorker on the leg side.

'I surprise people I guess. Whenever I walk out to bat, people assume I just took that decision and came out, but that's a role given to me, we lost Sanju (Samson) and I had to do a job," Ashwin said after the match.

"I am far better at judging my strengths. I take a few balls to get going. Every batting innings, I am padded up from the start. It's not an easy thing, but it is good," Ashwin added.

• IPL 2023