Faf du Plessis and MS Dhoni inspire Chennai to victory in IPL

Faf du Plessis cracked 73 runs off 52 balls and still the Chennai Super Kings needed a last-ball smash by MS Dhoni to defeat the Rajasthan Royals.

Faf du Plessis plays a shot against the Rajasthan Royals. The Chennai batsman hit a 73 off 52 balls to lead the Super Kings.

MS Dhoni, the Chennai Super Kings captain, hailed his side's patience after Faf du Plessis smashed a brisk 73 off 52 balls in a last-ball victory over the Rajasthan Royals in an Indian Premier League game on Saturday.

The South African the opening batsman hit two sixes and six fours in the knock, but it took a scampered double by Dhoni off Stuart Binny to seal the win as Chennai scored 147 for three after restricting Rajasthan to 146 for four.

"In games like these, you need to be calm right through to the end," Dhoni told a television reporter after the game. "We bowled well; there were a few overs where we gave away a lot of runs but [Nuwan] Kulasekara bowled well. The last ball, had it gone straight to hand, it would have been a Super Over and that is never an easy thing."

Du Plessis got off to a fine start by striking three fours off the second over bowled by Binny, son of India's 1983 World Cup hero Roger Binny, had a half-century stands with Subramaniam Badrinath (15) and Suresh Raina (26). Dhoni (15) and Dwayne Bravo (16) completed the win by scoring eight off the last over.

For Rajasthan, the England batsman Owais Shah was the standout performer with his innings of 52, smashing three sixes and four fours off 43 balls.

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