The Rajasthan Royals (RR) defeated the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by three runs in yet another last-ball thriller. CSK were brought agonizingly close to an improbable win by the experienced pair of Dhoni (32* off 17) and Ravindra Jadeja (25* off 15). They revived the Super Kings' chances after a middle-order collapse landed them in deep trouble.

This win put the Royals at the top of the points table, due to a higher net run-rate than the Lucknow Super Giants, who are now second. The crowds got their money worth as Dhoni smoked some vintage sixes in the last over.

On a day when Dhoni played his 200th match as captain of CSK, the veteran yet again led from the front to almost guide his team to a miraculous win.

The former India captain has, on many occasions, brought his team close to winning through some amazing knocks in losing causes too.

The early wicket of the in-form Gaikwad had to be a reason to panic, but that's simply not how CSK does things. Rahane and Conway laid the platform, albeit falling behind on the required rate, motoring along at 7.5 rpo in the powerplay. The pair found it difficult to pile on the pressure, struggling to regularly find the boundary, the required rate eclipsing the current rate at every stage.

CSK needed 63 off 30. The spinners were all over them. CSK's number 8 had come in to bat in his 200th game as the franchise's skipper. The experienced duo played out the spinners and got it down to 40 off the final 2 overs. Jadeja targeted Jason Holder and hammered him for two sixes and a four in a 19-run over, setting it up for a classic MS Dhoni finish in the final over. Sandeep Sharma was pushed into the cage with Dhoni in the final over, with 21 to win, and the pressure certainly got to the seamer, as he dished out two wides. After nailing a yorker, with 19 required off 5, MS Dhoni picked two low full-tosses (attempted yorkers) and despatched them for sixes to bring it down to 7 off 3. It was then that Sharma gathered himself and bowled three inch-perfect yorkers while also changing around his angle and closed out the game, surviving a last-over Dhoni scare.