Dosa, idle, sambar, it was all too bland for Chennai Super Kings on Sunday night as ghost pepper Nandré Burger and vintage edition Jofra Archer in Guwahati turned up the heat to make the five-time champions sweat.
It was an evening where the conditions, clarity and execution suited Rajasthan Royals perfectly and from the moment Riyan Parag made the right call at the toss, the script seemed to tilt in their favour. Parag decided to jump first on the surface that had been under cover shortly before launch and encountered the uncertainty that lingered beneath him.
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Rain in the opening made the surface of the Baraspara Cricket Stadium damp and the delay before the toss only added to the intrigue. There was just enough in the air and off the pitch to encourage movement and Rajasthan’s fast bowlers were quick to latch onto it. The Royals had the added advantage of being familiar, having trained at the venue in previous days and Parag was quick to acknowledge how much that helped.
“I think I was lucky with the toss. I thought the way we executed it was brilliant. We had a couple of days of training before CSK arrived. It was a red clay wicket but it had rained for a couple of days so we knew the humidity would play a part,” he said after the match.
AIR HEAT
If the toss set things up, the fast bowlers made sure there was no escape route.
Much has been said about Jofro Archer in the build-up to the IPL, especially after a mediocre campaign in the T20 World Cup earlier in the year. Questions have been floating around as to whether he still possesses the intimidation factor that once made him one of the format’s most feared quicks. In Guwahati these doubts were emphatically answered.
This was Archer going back to his roots, fast, full and with the clear intention of making the ball do the talking. He tried to shape it through the air from the start, pitching it just to invite a drive and then thrashing the bat with late movement. There was no over-complication, just high pace combined with conventional swing and Chennai’s top order had no time to settle. The batsmen were stretched forward, forced into uncertain pushes and errors naturally followed.
At the other end, Nandre Burger mirrored this intention with his own method. If Archer was about pace and late swing, Burger operated with angles and seams, but with the same basic aim of keeping the ball moving. He picked it up too, looking for that variation both in the air and off the surface, allowing the conditions to amplify his natural variations.
A wobbly seam delivery that featured Sanju Samson summed it up, uncertain in trajectory, movement just enough to beat the bat and completely on plan to make every ball ask a question.
“The plan is always to get every batter out. I can’t really say I wanted to deliver Sanja Samson exactly, it just happened, you could call it a natural variation. But overall the idea was to mix in the hard lines and let the batter hit the areas we wanted, so I’m glad it worked in my favor today,” Burger said.
Together, they thrived by committing to a full length early and resisting the T20 instinct to drop too soon. The reward was immediate, movement through the air, deviation off the pitch and a constant sense of doubt for the batsman. Even outside the power play, there was enough help to keep Chennai guessing, especially with slight changes in bounce.
NO OUTPUT
What was remarkable was how uncomplicated Rajasthan’s approach remained. In the first six overs, there was a clear determination to hit those probe lengths and let the movement, both in the air and off the seam, do the work. There was no compulsion to shuffle, no desperation to think about wars, just the disciplined execution of a simple, effective plan.
Parago’s captain reflected the same clarity. Since pacemakers extracted movement and discomfort, there was no temptation to disrupt the rhythm by introducing rotation too early. It was a shrewd but telling decision that ensured the pressure was applied consistently rather than broken up in phases.
As the innings went on and the pitch began to loosen up, Chennai did find moments of resistance, but the early damage had already left them reeling. The runs never quite flowed, the intent wavered and the Royals pitchers, sensing the vulnerability, never quite loosened their grip. Even when the ball stopped doing so much, the discipline in the lengths and fields ensured that it was not an easy release.
But what was most striking was the clarity in Rajasthan’s approach. There was no thinking, no unnecessary experimentation, just a collective understanding of what the surface required. Archer’s hostility set the tone, Burger’s natural variation complemented it and Parago’s captain ensured the pressure remained relentless rather than sporadic.
It was one of those nights for Chennai where the template simply didn’t match the conditions. Their usually reliable top order looked rushed, their middle order reactive, and by the time adjustments were made, the competition was gone.
In the end, it wasn’t just about raw pace or accommodating conditions, it was about recognizing the value of movement and committing to it. Rajasthan brought the fire, trusted the swing on offer and turned Guwahati into a furnace. Chennai, meanwhile, were left with a rare lackluster outing that excelled in both intensity and execution.
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Issued by:
Amar Panicker
Published on:
31 Mar 2026 08:02 IST
