IPL 2018: Shane Watson makes RR pay after dropped catches by Rahul Tripathi

"Catches win you matches" is a famous expression in the game of cricket. Rajasthan's Rahul Tripathi seemed to forget that expression during the CSK-RR game in Pune on Friday when he dropped the dangerous Chennai opener Shane Watson twice.

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"Catches win matches" is a famous expression in the game of cricket. Rajasthan's Rahul Tripathi seemed to forget that during the CSK-RR game in Pune on Friday when he dropped the dangerous Chennai opener Shane Watson twice.   

Stuart Binny, playing his first game this season, bowled the first over of the match and his first delivery, shockingly, was a no-ball. Watson was quick to punish him off the free-hit delivery with a boundary. Then the Aussie added insult to injury by picking up another boundary off the next ball, this time through the covers.

Binny, to his credit, didn't lose his heart and continued pitching the ball outside the off-stump near the good-length spot. His effort bore fruition off the fifth ball as Watson found a thick edge. Sadly for Binny, Tripathi dropped what, by all means, was a regulation catch in the slips. 

In the next over, another catch came Tripathi's way, again from Watson's bat. At point, he made a much better effort this time but again couldn't finish the job

Thereafter Watson ran amok and reached his fifty in just 28 balls -- and continued going from strength to strength. 

It's clear those catches have already proved expensive. Watson, on his part, has made the most of those opportunities. Anything can happen in a T20 game but for now CSK have taken a big stride towards returning to winning ways after a narrow defeat in their last match against Punjab.

Earlier in the match, RR won the toss and decided to have a field at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium.

Rajasthan made two changes to their team: South African Heinrich Klaasen and Binny came in; D'Arcy Short and Dhawal Kulkarni made way for them. For CSK, Suresh Raina and Karn Sharma came in. Raina returned from injury, while spinner Karn got his first game this season.