Ravindra Jadeja’s gun celebration against CSK:Vaibhav Sooryavanshi records second-fastest half-century for RR

Rajasthan Royals (RR) secured a comfortable 8-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the third match of IPL 2026, chasing down a modest target of 128 runs with ease. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi starred with a blistering 52 off just 17 balls, while Jamie Overton had earlier top-scored for CSK with 43 before being run out after a crucial 33-run last-wicket stand. RR got off to a strong start as Sooryavanshi and Yashasvi Jaiswal added 75 runs for the opening wicket. Sooryavanshi’s explosive knock came to an end after a brilliant diving catch by Safaraz Khan, while Anshul Kamboj picked up two wickets, including that of Dhruv Jurel. CSK struggled throughout their innings in the absence of MS Dhoni and were bowled out for 127 runs. Sanju Samson and Ruturaj Gaikwad fell early, both scoring just 6 runs. Nandre Burger, Jofra Archer and Ravindra Jadeja led the bowling attack with two wickets each for Rajasthan, as Chennai’s batting lineup failed to build momentum. During the match, there were several moments and records acheived, let’s have a look into it. RR vs CSK, IPL 2026, Match – 3, top moments 1) Sarfaraz Khan had to change his bat after testing After Ayush Mhatre got out, Sarfaraz Khan came to the field as an impact player. Before coming to the crease, the umpire checked Sarfaraz’s bat, but his bat did not pass the test. After this, he had to change his bat. Also read: Deja vu for PBKS, GT in Mullanpur campaign opener: Punjab begin hunt for maiden IPL, Gill’s strike rate a concern for Gujarat 2) Ravindra Jadeja’s gun celebration Ravindra Jadeja, who played for Rajasthan after 17 years, took 2 wickets in his very first over. Jadeja bowled the second ball of the 8th over at good length. Sarfaraz Khan tried to play a sweep shot, but the ball hit his pad. Sarfaraz got out after scoring 17 runs. Shivam Dubey came in to bat and hit a six on the very first ball. Jadeja equalized on the last ball and got Dubey caught at long off. After this, Jadeja made a gun gesture with his hand and fired. Dubey could only make 6 runs. 3) Kartik Sharma dropped Vaibhav Sooryavanshi on first ball Matt Henry came to bowl the first over for Chennai. Vaibhav Suryavanshi went for a big shot on his first ball, but the ball went straight up in the air. Kartik Sharma came under the ball but couldn’t hold onto the catch. Suryavanshi hit a six on the next ball. 4) Sooryavanshi slams half-century with a massive six Vaibhav Suryavanshi completed his fifty in the last over of powerplay. He hit two consecutive sixes against Noor Ahmad and completed his half-century in just 15 balls. RR vs CSK, IPL 2026, Match – 3, records 1) Rajasthan’s biggest run chase in IPL Rajasthan completed their biggest IPL chase in history with 47 balls remaining. Previously, they had achieved victory against Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2014 with 42 balls remaining. Since 2020, Rajasthan has won 9 out of their last 11 encounters against Chennai. 2) Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s second fastest fifty for RR Vaibhav Suryavanshi scored a half-century in 15 balls, making it the second fastest fifty for Rajasthan. At the top is Yashasvi Jaiswal, who scored a fifty in just 13 balls against Kolkata in 2023. 3) Sanju Samson missed fifty in first match after five years For the first time since 2020, Sanju Samson could not score 50+ runs in the first match of a season. In 2021, he had scored a century. In 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, Sanju had scored more than fifty runs. Also read: Naseem Shah fined ₹67.8 lakh for tweet on Maryam Nawaz:Pak pacer set to lose salary worth eight months; Afridi penalized by Lahore Qalandars 4) Chennai takes field without Dhoni-Raina for the first time For the first time in Chennai Super Kings’ history, the team took the field without both MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina in the playing eleven. Until now, in Chennai’s 277 matches (253 IPL + 24 Champions League (CLT20)), at least one of these two players had always been part of the team. Raina retired in 2022, while Dhoni is not playing the initial matches this season due to injury.