Samson flops, Jadeja sparks as RR crush CSK in Guwahati to open IPL 2026 account
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Samson flops, Jadeja sparks as RR crush CSK in Guwahati to open IPL 2026 account")
Samson flops, Jadeja sparks as RR crush CSK in Guwahati to open IPL 2026 account Photograph: (Others)
Rajasthan Royals crushed Chennai Super Kings by eight wickets in Guwahati. Chasing a moderate 128, the hosts completed the target inside 13 overs, with Ravindra Jadeja starring with the ball, picking two wickets on his RR debut.
Ravindra Jadeja shone on his Rajasthan Royals debut as the hosts crushed the former five-time champions by eight wickets in their IPL 2026 opener on Monday (Mar 30) in Guwahati. While Jadeja’s debut made headlines for the right reasons, as he returned with two wickets for 18 runs in three overs, Sanju Samson’s was a shallow one. Opening with team captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, Samson failed on his CSK debut, scoring just six before a banger of a delivery from Nandre Burger sent him packing.
Rajasthan captain Riyan Parag won the toss and elected to field first, considering the rain threat. Although that did not happen, what happened was RR’s mauling of CSK, who were without several first-team players for the opener, including MS Dhoni.
Batting first, CSK had the new opening pair in Gaikwad and Samson, but both failed to get going. The overseas seam pair of Jofra Archer and Burger accounted for CSK’s top-three, reducing them 19 for three at one stage, and 38 for four inside the Powerplay.
Came in Jadeja, once CSK’s greatest match-winner, against his former team, and rocked them with twin strikes in his first over, dismissing CSK’s Impact Player Sarfaraz Khan and Shivam Dube.
Debutant Karthik Sharma scored 18 off 15 balls, but the saviour was all-rounder Jamie Overton (43 from 36 balls), who fought till the end to help CSK post a fighting total (127 inside 20 overs).
No stopping Suryavanshi, RR
The 15-year-old batting prodigy, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, was on song from ball one, smashing a 15-ball fifty, fastest for this season thus far, and the second-quickest overall for the Royals in IPL. His blistering knock stitched a 75-run stand for the first wicket with Yashasvi Jaiswal before Anshul Kamboj broke the stand. The CSK medium pacer also accounted for the gloveman Dhruv Jurel (18 off nine balls).
While Jaiswal stood his ground at one end, captain Parag remained unbeaten on 14 off 11 balls to see a comfortable victory for his team by eight wickets.
