On This Day: Shane Watson scored maiden T20 century vs CSK in Chennai

Shane Watson scored maiden T20 century: Royals’ all-rounder smashed the opposition bowlers to all corners on their home ground.

On this day in 2013, the then Rajasthan Royals all-rounder Shane Watson had scored his maiden T20 century against Chennai Super Kings during the 30th match of the sixth season of the tournament in Chennai.

After the then Rajasthan captain Rahul Dravid won the toss and chose to bat, Watson hit the first ball of the innings for a four through midwicket after CSK all-rounder Dwayne Bravo let the ball pass through his legs.

On the first delivery of Mohit Sharma’s second over, Watson stood his ground to elegantly hit the bowler over his had for a six. Having hit a four in the same over, Watson then targeted Chennai all-rounder Chris Morris by hitting him for a six and a four in the fifth over.

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Watson, then 31, played a dominant role in a 71-run opening partnership alongside Ajinkya Rahane (16). Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni another all-rounder in Ravindra Jadeja in the seventh over brought no respite as Watson hit him for a four and a six to welcome him.

While Watson crossed the 50-run mark in this over, it was also a period when RR started to lose wickets. All-rounder Stuart Binny coming out to bat eased the pressure off Watson as he hit Jadeja for two more sixes in the 17th over.

Shane Watson scored maiden T20 century

It was on the second delivery of the 18th over that Watson ran a couple of runs off Bravo to complete his maiden century in the tournament. It is worth mentioning that it was also the first century of IPL 2013.

While Watson would have loved to get going till the end, he was dismissed on the next delivery as he hit a Bravo delivery straight to Michael Hussey at extra cover. Watson scoring 101 (61) with the help of six fours and six sixes played a titular role in Royals scoring 185/4 in 20 overs.

Watson’s first century in the format ended up in a losing cause as a 90-run partnership for the second wicket between Chennai opening batsman Hussey (88) and vice-captain Suresh Raina (51) laid the foundation of a 5-wicket victory.