Rajasthan Royals started their IPL 2025 campaign in fine style as they beat Chennai Super Kings by eight wickets in the third game of the IPL 2025. Chennai Super Kings were put into bat first and lost both their openers cheaply. Jofra Archer and Burger were excellent with the new ball while Ravindra Jadeja wreaked havoc in the middle overs as Chennai Super Kings were bowled out for just 127 in the first innings. It was a below par score and Rajasthan Royals chased down the target in just 12.1 overs. Vaibhav Suryavanshi smashed a 15 ball half century while Jaiswal scored a composed 38 to take his team home.

Vaibhav Suryavanshi Reflects on His Performance

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi: (Translated from Hindi) - I didn’t really do anything outside - there was supposed to be a cake cutting, but I went to sleep early to avoid the cake-smearing (on how he celebrated his birthday). The plan today was simply to execute well in the powerplay - initially the wicket felt a bit sticky, but as the ball got older, it started coming onto the bat nicely (on his batting approach). I do think about defence, but today our plan was to control the game in the powerplay because in a small chase, that phase is crucial - if the bowling team does well there, the game can tilt their way, but our powerplay went really well (on his aggressive intent). The coaches didn’t specifically say that bowlers would attack me - everyone else was already saying that - but they just told me that they back me and that I should stick to my natural game and play according to the situation (on guidance from the support staff). My opening partner (Jaiswal) keeps communicating with me after every ball - he tells me when to take singles, keeps giving me the strike, and encourages me to keep playing my shots if the ball is coming nicely onto the bat (on partnership understanding).

CSK Captain Ruturaj Gaikwad Comments on the Loss

CSK Captain Ruturaj Gaikwad: (Frustrated?) Not much, to be honest. I felt the conditions at the start were really tough, especially when facing Jofra and Burger. They bowled brilliant lengths and even after that, to a medium-pacer it was slightly tough. You could see even the spinners were getting some assistance as well. Yes, we would have been better in batting, we would have taken the game deep, showed some batsmanship, maybe take the game till 150-160. But, nowadays, you never know what's a good score, so you just have to keep going. So I think it just one of those days where the wicket was slightly on the tougher side. So not frustrated at all. (Do you reassess as a group?) You just put it behind and move on. We've got a game in another three days. Make sure that everyone is in a good headspace. One good thing is, a lot of youngsters in the group. So, probably a nervy start for everyone, but good to get a game behind and good to start with lot of mistakes. Hopefully it will be just improvement after here. I'm someone who's not a firm believer of going all the way. But, with the impact player, you never really know what's the good score or what's the par score. So you don't really often see games going down the line till the 20th over when you're defending 150, 160 or 170. So I think it's just about backing yourself, backing your game for the batsmen. If you have it in your area, just make sure you go for it. Today it didn't work but we can be better in batsmanship. You just have to be positive, especially when you're batting first. If conditions are good, you never know, the same batting line-up can put a good score.

RR Captain Riyan Parag on the Win and Leadership

RR captain, Riyan Parag: I got lucky with the toss, but I think the way we executed it, we had like a couple of days' practice, I think, before CSK arrived, and it was a red-soil wicket, but then it was a lot of rain as well, so we knew the moisture was going to play a part. And yeah, I think everyone executed plans really nicely. (On being RR's full-time captain) Definitely like this better. A lot of preparation has gone into this. I know me being captain is one part which I should be happy about and I should thank the franchise for it, but then the goal this year is to win the trophy, and we've put in a lot of time towards planning, strategizing. I've said this in an interview before that we want to be a team that plays smart cricket. We want to assess conditions really well and adapt to it. And I think that we did that pretty well today. (On the bowlers) Everyone who came in, Jof and Nandre, we expect that from them every single time, they were rapid. Sandy bhaiya (Sandeep Sharma) doing his job. Jaddu bhaiya coming in, I think Guwahati suited him a little bit more. And then Brijesh, the youngster, I think him coming in first game against CSK with the packed crowd, what he did was insane, so I'm really looking forward to the season. (What do you tell Vaibhav?) What I tell him is that you're going to play 14 games and regardless of what goes on in the game, it shouldn't bother you. What goes around in the media shouldn't bother you. You just go out there. He loves to bat. I've made sure I've told the coaches that he gets as much batting as he wants. And he goes and does some things like that. So I think me and Dhruv, when we were sitting there till the fourth over, we were just in awe. Like, what is happening? Like, how is he doing this? But then I'm really happy to have him in my team. (Is this going to RR's batting order) Yes, that is what we've been planning on. Dhruv comes in at three, Hettie (Hetmyer) bats at five, because I think we need that lefty-righty in the later half of the innings as well. So hopefully this sticks and we win a few games with this batting line-up.

Player of the Match: Nandre Burger

Nandre Burger | Player of the Match: Firstly, all glory to God - it feels great to contribute to a win for the team and get us off to a good start (on his performance). Watching the previous games with big scores, you naturally prepare for chasing something big, so winning the toss and getting the ball first was massive for us and helped us get off to a strong start (on conditions and match situation). The plan is always to get every batter out - I can’t really say I meant to bowl that exact delivery to Sanju Samson, it just happened, you can call it natural variation - but overall the idea was to bowl tight lines and make batters hit into the areas we wanted, so I’m glad it worked in my favour today. The dressing room feels pretty similar to before - there are a few new faces and changes like the coach and captain, but the energy is good, everyone is smiling, and hopefully this is a positive start so we can keep that momentum going (on team environment).

RR Start Strong While CSK Struggles

It has been yet another disappointing start for Chennai Super Kings. They finished tenth in the last season and made a few changes to their squad but the fortunes have not changed as they start IPL 2026 with a massive loss which has also dented their NRR. They struggled with bat, ball and in the field. On the other hand, Riyan Parag led RR have got off to the perfect start in this edition and they look a really strong unit. It was a one sided affair and completely dominated by RR.