All-round Ashwin carries Royals to top-two finish, Moeen's 93 off 57 in vain
Promoted at No. 5, Ashwin hit an unbeaten 40 off 23 balls to go with his bowling analysis of 4-0-28-1
It might be all gloom for Super Kings this season but it is not possible to be gloomy when Moeen is on song. That he had come in early meant Super Kings began the acceleration in the fourth and not the customary fifth over. First he went after the hard lengths of Prasidh Krishna, which is usually a good bet against Moeen. Then Ashwin's away turn didn't matter as he took 16 off the fifth. The last over of the powerplay was the best of the lot: he hit Trent Boult for boundaries to square leg, midwicket, long-on, third man, point and extra-cover. He brought up his half-century off the 19th ball, the second-fastest fifty for Super Kings.
It began with Ashwin making a comeback in the eighth over. Devon Conway went to sweep him but the ball turned out to be too full, trapping him lbw. Obed McCoy then used his slower ones to use the slow surface. Add Yuzvendra Chahal and an experimental middle order to the mix, Moeen found himself taking on more responsibility than he would have liked.
Jos Buttler had a sensational start to the tournament but he has now scored 63 in his last five innings at a run a ball. Thankfully for Royals, Yashasvi Jaiswal has stepped into the breach after being reintroduced to the XI mid-season. He single-handedly made the powerplay count after Buttler got out in the second over and Sanju Samson kept finding fielders. Jaiswal raced away to 31 off 17 even as the other 13 balls in the first five brought them just 16 runs.
The spreading of the fielding and the introduction of spin, however, brought a similar challenge for Royals. When Samson went to force the pace, he found the tall Mitchell Santner in the way of a straight drive. Devdutt Padikkal got frustrated too and tried a big slog sweep off Moeen, only to be bowled for 3 off nine.
This is when Royals promoted Ashwin, whom they have previously used as a pinch anchor and a pinch hitter but not in such a critical situation. As Ashwin got himself in, the ask went up to 67 off the last seven overs with Jaiswal too finding it tough to maintain the scoring rate of the powerplay.
Sidharth Monga is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo