Rajasthan Royals skipper Ajinkya Rahane fined Rs.12 Lakh for slow over rate against Chennai Super Kings

Nothing seems to be going right for the Rajasthan Royals as they registered a hat-trick of losses in the ongoing edition of IPL against the defending champions and three-time winners Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram stadium on Sunday. However, it was Rajasthan's captain Ajinkya Rahane who bore the brunt. At a time when he is struggling to snap his team's winless streak, he was also fined Rs.12 lakh for maintaining a slow-over rate during Sunday's game against CSK. 

“As it was his team’s first offence of the season under the IPL’s Code of Conduct relating to minimum over-rate offences, Mr. Rahane was fined Rs 12 lakh,” read an official IPL statement.

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Rahane elected to field first after winning the toss and his decision seemed to be spot on when CSK's top order batsmen were sent back to the dugout early. Very soon, RR had them on the mat at 27/3. However, a 61 run fourth wicket partnership between CSK skipper MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina bought CSK's innings back on track. Even after Raina was castled by Jaydev Unadkat for 36 Dhoni kept the scoreboard ticking as he stitched in a 56 run stand for the fifth wicket with Dwayne Bravo who played an important cameo of a 16-ball 27. Dhoni bought up his 21st IPL half-century as the 2011 World Cup winning captain went on to score a splendid 46-ball unbeaten 75 at a strike rate of 163.04 which included four boundaries and four maximums. He finished CSK's innings on a good note as he clobbered Jaydev Unadkat for three sixes in the final over which helped CSK get to a fighting total of 175/5 in their 20 overs. 

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In reply Rajasthan Royals got off to a disastrous start as skipper Ajinkya Rahane was dismissed in the second ball of the first over. Steve Smith (28) and Rahul Tripathi (39) put on 61 runs for the sixth wicket. However, it was Ben Stokes' knock of a 26-ball 46 that kept the Royals in the hunt. But his dismissal in the penultimate over meant that Rajasthan fell short by eight runs.

(With PTI Inputs)