Mumbai, Oct 3 (IANS): Rajasthan Royals' pace of scoring against Chennai Super Kings has left Saba Karim amazed, with the former India selector saying on Sunday that "It was unbelievable".
Despite CSK opener Ruturaj Gaikwad slamming a 60-ball unbeaten century with the help of five sixes and nine boundaries, and setting the Royals a massive 190-run target for victory, the Sanju Samson-led side scored the required runs with 15 balls to spare on Saturday evening.
This was the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led side's first defeat in the UAE leg and Saba Karim termed it the upset of the tournament.
"This is clearly the upset of IPL this season. They (RR) have roared back into contention now. Some great stuff from the openers. In 5.2 overs Rajasthan Royals had put up 75 runs on the board. It was unbelievable," Karim told cricket.com on Sunday.
"They (Rajasthan Royals) were up against a strong bowling attack -- they (Chennai Super Kings) had Josh Hazlewood, Sam Curran, Ravindra Jadeja. To score these runs in such a blistering manner is very difficult to understand. This goes to show that all the teams have the surprise element up their sleeves.
"It depends when they want to play their best game. Today was such a day for RR. Look at Shivam Dube. He played his first game today, he was sitting out. He carried on the momentum from the openers," he added.
Karim said Rajasthan Royals had shown other IPL sides the path to follow in order to topple CSK.
"RR will fancy themselves and look to get back into the tournament. They need to win the last two games. They will also be dependent on the results of some other matches. Having said that, this is also a great cue for some other teams, who have faltered against CSK. This is the kind of success mantra the other teams would like to follow against CSK," Karim added.
"I can understand this is a great batting track but it just gives a different kind of insight as to how to make inroads into this strong CSK line-up. RR have not just done themselves a favour, but also a big favour to the other teams who have to play the matches against CSK," Karim said.