Mahendra Singh Dhoni showed glimpses of his explosive past but that was not enough for Chennai Super Kings to script a victory in his 200th match as captain. Rajasthan Royals won by three runs in a thrilling encounter at the Chepauk in Chennai on Wednesday.

N. Srinivasan felicitates Mahendra Singh Dhoni on his 200th game as CSK captain before the match on Wednesday Picture courtesy IPL

With five needed off the final ball, Dhoni could manage only a single off Sandeep Sharma. The Super Kings managed 17 off the final over when 21 were needed.

When Dhoni joined Jadeja, the Super Kings were 60 runs adrift with five overs in hand. Dhoni remained unbeaten on 32 off 17 balls with three sixes and a boundary while Ravindra Jadeja contributed 25 not out off 15 balls.

Chasing 176, the Super Kings lost wickets at regular intervals to fall behind in the asking rate until Jadeja and Dhoni got together.

Earlier, the Super Kings bowlers put up a resilient show towards the end of the innings to restrict Rajasthan Royals to 175 for eight.

The Super Kings bowlers gave away only 80 in the last 10 overs after the Royals were 95 at the ten-over mark. Only 29 runs came off the last four overs. Ravindra Jadeja was the pick of the bowlers, with two wickets.

Tushar Deshpande (2/37) gave away only eight runs in the 20th over.

Dhoni showed fine leadership qualities when he brought back Moeen Ali, who was torn apart in his first over, to dismiss Jos Buttler towards the end.

The Buttler surge that Rajasthan had been hoping for since he was going strong on 52, simply didn’t happen, as Moeen uprooted the off-stump.