Mumbai opener Sachin Tendulkar and Dwayne Smith denied Rajasthan any breakthrough as they chased down 163-run target with two overs to spare.

While Smith stayed unbeaten at 87, Tendulkar remained not out after scoring 58 as Mumbai Indians won the last league clash of the tournament by 10 wickets.

Shane Watson top-scored with a 36-ball 45 as Rajasthan Royals posted a challenging 162 for six in their Indian Premier League match against Mumbai Indians.

Watson hit four boundaries and two sixes before Owais Shah and Ashok Menaria provided the late flourish at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium.

Batting first after the coin landed in skipper Rahul Dravid’s favour, Rajasthan lost their openers early to be placed at 31 for two in the sixth over.

Dhaval Kulkarni accounted for both the batsmen – he had Dravid caught behind by Dinesh Karthik and then sent back the in-form Ajinkya Rahane as he pulled a short ball straight to midwicket.

Watson along with Stuart Binny added 53 runs for the third wicket to stabilise Rajasthan’s innings. What must have helped the hosts was that the two consumed just six overs to add those runs.

Both played some effective shots during their partnership and prominent among those were the six by Watson over deep midwicket off Dwayne Smith, and Binny’s slog-swept maximum off Harbhajan Singh over deep square leg.

Even the quick Lasith Malinga got a bit of stick initially as Watson picked two fours against the Sri Lankan.

A moment of indiscretion cost Binny his wicket as Kieron Pollard ran him out to cut short his innings at 30 off 17 balls. Binny hit three fours and two sixes.

But Watson continued to fight as he smashed Pollard for a massive six over deep midwicket and followed that with a four to fine leg.

However, while going for one too many, Watson ended up holing out to deep midwicket after mistiming Pollard’s final delivery in the 14th over.

Shah then produced a few hits to the fence, including a six and a four off Pollard, to prop up Rajasthan’s innings.

Shah was, to an extent, helped by Malinga as the Lankan made a mess of a chance in the deep after failing to judge the ball.

Menaria, too, looked in good nick and contributed 21 off 20 balls, which included an upper cut six off R P Singh over third man. Luck was on Menaria’s side as the batsman, after being cleaned up by Malinga, found that the bowler had overstepped.

In the final league game of the season, with the playoff places already decided, Rajasthan have brought in Dishant Yagnik for Shreevats Goswami and Brad Hogg in place of Johan Botha.

Source: Times of India

Rajasthan Royals needed to succeed in their final two matches to have a chance of qualifying. They would have expected to win the first of those: against Deccan Chargers who had been victorious in only two matches of 14 this season, and only won once in 18 matches at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. Instead, they were knocked out of the playoff race by a stifling spell of legspin bowling from Amit Mishra which sucked the momentum out of Royals’ innings, tying them to their lowest total of the season.

After Royals chose to bat, Chargers were their usual woeful self in the Powerplay overs, putting down three catches to reprieve each of Royals’ top three. Royals’ highest run-scorer this season, Ajinkya Rahane, was dropped in the first over by wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel, but Chargers weren’t made to pay as Dale Steyn had Rahane edging to slip in the next over.

Royals have won the three games Shane Watson has fired in this season, and lost the three he failed in, highlighting how important he has become to the side’s fortunes since his arrival from the West Indies. Watson, too, was given a life in the fifth over, as Shikhar Dhawan couldn’t latch on to a diving effort at midwicket. On the very next delivery, Ashish Reddy let a drive from Rahul Dravid through his fingers at mid-on, conceding a boundary. The over ended with Watson blasting a straight six and Chargers demoralised.

Mishra lifted them with his first ball. It drifted in and spun away and Watson ended up playing inside the line to be bowled. The biggest wicket had been taken, and in Mishra’s next over, he got another breakthrough as a quicker googly left Stuart Binny bowled and clueless. He continued to get plenty of spin through his spell, mixing in googlies with his legspinners and bowling the odd delivery from wide of the stumps to change the angle.

Even Chargers’ fielding lifted after Mishra’s intervention, with both the catching and ground fielding improving. Dravid’s fight came to an end in the 12th over as he chopped a wide delivery to little-known Queensland batsman Chris Lynn, who nearly shelled it before grabbing it on his second effort.

The acceleration for Royals now had to come from Owais Shah, playing in place of the injured Brad Hodge. He wasn’t at his most fluent today though, struggling against the accuracy of Chargers’ bowling. It wasn’t just that Steyn was proving unhittable, even the Indian contingent of Gony and Veer Pratap Singh kept the batsmen mostly down to singles.

Only 65 runs came in the final ten overs, which meant Chargers were in with a chance of ending Royals’ chances and also their horror run at home. Shikhar Dhawan continued to be one of the bright spots of Chargers’ campaign, with only Chris Gayle scoring more than him this season. He and 21-year-old Akshat Reddy added 60 in seven overs to put Chargers on course.

Midway through the innings Chargers were so relaxed that their coach Darren Lehmann and stand-in captain Cameron White were exchanging a joke in the dug-out. It wasn’t a cruise to victory though as Reddy and White were dismissed in the space of seven deliveries, after which the boundaries proved elusive. Siddharth Trivedi choked the runs, giving away only 20 in four overs, and memories of the match-winning situations that Chargers have slipped from this season come back. There was no heartbreak for the fans however as Ashish Reddy slapped a couple of boundaries to finish off Royals.

Siddarth Ravindran is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

When Rahul Dravid of Rajasthan Royals was asked at the toss to name the changes to his line-up, he paused for a few seconds before giving up trying to recollect the second spinner. Ajit Chandila ensured that his captain and the rest of the world weren’t going to forget his name. The little-known offspinner from Haryana responded with a hat-trick in only his second game, reducing Pune Warriors to a train wreck early in their chase of 171. Warriors extended their losing streak to eight – the worst in IPL history – while Royals stayed in the hunt for the playoffs.

It proved a masterstroke by Dravid tossing the new ball to Chandila. Warriors didn’t know what to expect from the tall spinner, only two first-class matches old. With a run-up of barely a few steps, and a languid action to boot, Chandila tossed it up at such an agonisingly slow pace that it took an eternity for the ball to land. Jesse Ryder opted to hammer him out of the attack but ended up mis-hitting it to Shane Watson pedaling back at mid-on.

Sourav Ganguly tried to nudge the next delivery but the ball dribbled back towards the wicketkeeper Shreevats Goswami who broke the stumps before Ganguly could ground his bat. Chandila struck with the first ball of his second over, drawing Robin Uthappa forward and beating him on the drive before Goswami whipped off the bails. Chandila’s split hat-trick was all the more glossy because the victims were international batsmen. It was the seventh hat-trick in IPL history and the first of this edition.

Chandila had time to sneak in another wicket, off a simple caught and bowled to get rid of Anustup Majumdar, and finished with figures of 4 for 13. Warriors were tottering at 26 for 4, a position from which they never recovered from. Royals never allowed a partnership to get past 34, they conceded just 11 boundaries in the innings and lit up an otherwise drab phase after the hat-trick with a jaw-dropping fielding effort at the boundary by Johan Botha and Ajinkya Rahane to get rid of Rahul Sharma. Botha caught it at the edge of the rope at long-off and relayed it to an alert Rahane who claimed the catch.

Royals batted Warriors out of the match thanks to half-centuries by Watson and Rahane. Ganguly returned to lead Warriors but he and his team-mates let themselves down with a flat performance in the field that allowed the Watson-Rahane partnership to flourish.

The urgency in the running between the wickets picked up when the pair came together. Rahane in particular was impressive in his calling as he pushed the ball to the slower men in the deep, starting with Ganguly, and the few extra seconds they took to get to the ball cost Warriors extra runs.

Watson biffed boundaries through his favoured on-side region. He began with a slog over midwicket off Bhuvneshwar Kumar, before pounding consecutive sixes off Murali Kartik, one of which was a full toss clubbed over the second tier at deep midwicket. As the pitch was on the slower side, Watson’s powerful bat-speed gave his shots more velocity. He punished the spinners with powerful pulls and drives, fetching two free boundaries via misfields. Steven Smith, known for his acrobatic saves at the boundary, overran the ball at deep midwicket, while Kartik too let one slip between his legs.

Watson sped to his fifty with a clipped four to deep square leg and a six over deep midwicket off Jesse Ryder. However, he played all over a yorker from Ashish Nehra, leaving his team at a healthy 123 for 2 in the 15th over. Warriors were guilty of not bowling to their field, bowling half volleys on the pads with the fine leg up. Rahane proceeded towards his fifty with wristy clips and punches through the off side. His knock ensured that Royals didn’t lose their way after Watson’s departure. Minutes after the chase got underway, the game was all but won by Royals.

Kanishkaa Balachandran is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

Late charge by Anirudha Srikkanth (18 not out) and Albie Morkel (18 not out) helped Chennai Super Kings beat Rajasthan Royals by 4 wickets in an important Indian Premier League match at Sawai Mansingh stadium, Jaipur on Thursday.

Chasing 127-run target, Chennai lost wickets at regular intervals and looked in trouble before Anirudha and Albie changed the gear for the visitors.

Both the batsmen smashed two sixes and a four each and played identical six deliveries as the duo helped the defending champions achieved the modest target with 11 balls to spare.

Siddharth Trivedi (2-18) and Pankaj Singh (2-34) took two Chennai wickets each whereas Shane Watson (1-32) took one wicket.

For Chennai, Suresh Raina was the top scorer with 23 off 17 balls. Raina smashed five boundaries in his quick 17-ball innings.

Chennai lost opener Vijay for nought in the very first over against Rajasthan.

Pacer Shane Watson bowled four dot balls to Vijay before the fifth one hit the off-stump as he provided Royals a much needed early breakthrough.

Electing to bowl, Ben Hilfinhaus (2-8) led a discipline Chennai attack to help Super Kings restrict Rajasthan Royals to 126/6.

Rajasthan Royals lost three top-order batsmen inside nine overs as they failed to create any momentum amidst rain interruptions.

Brad Hodge (33) and Stuart Binny (27) tried to resurrect the Rajasthan innings but failed to built substantial partnerships in their innings.

Hodge hit a six and couple of fours in his 28-ball innings, whereas Binny smashed a six and three boundaries in his quick-fire 18 balls knock.

Chennai pacer Yo Mahesh supported impressive Hilfenhaus perfectly as he took 2 wickets for 21 runs in his four overs. Spinners Ravindra Jadeja (1-21) and Ravichandran Ashwin (1-13) also took a wicket each for Chennai.

Yo Mahesh struck in the ninth over to dismiss Ajinkya Rahane (17) and reduce hosts Royals to 40/3 in 8.4 overs.

The match was marred with rain interruptions.

Ben Hilfenhaus dismissed Shane Watson (5) and Rahul Dravid (4) to give Chennai early breakthroughs against Rajasthan.

Hilfenhaus gave the visitors early breakthrough as he dismissed Dravid in the second over to reduce the Royals to 6/1 in 1.5 overs.

The important IPL clash was stopped for almost 50 minutes by light drizzle soon after Chennai pacer Albie Morkel bowled the first ball of the match.

Earlier, Chennai skipper MS Dhoni won the toss and decided to field against Rajasthan.

“With the rain around we chose to field as we want to have a better idea of the target,” Dhoni said after winning the toss.

Chennai have left out S Badrinath and Faf du Plessis, who are not well. Michael Hussey and S Anirudha will replace them in the playing eleven.

Rajasthan have made just one change in their playing eleven from last game, bringing in Brad Hodge in place of Owais Shah.

Teams:

Rajasthan Royals: Rahul Dravid (capt), Siddharth Trivedi, Shane Watson, Shaun Tait, Dishant Yagnik (wk), Brad Hodge, Johan Botha, Ashok Menaria, Pankaj Singh, Ajinkya Rahane, Stuart Binny.

Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt/wk), Srikkanth Anirudha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Dwayne Bravo, Ben Hilfenhaus, Michael Hussey, Ravindra Jadeja, Yo Mahesh, Albie Morkel, Suresh Raina, Murali Vijay.

Source: Times of India

The Aussie all-rounder’s 51-ball 90 makes it a no contest…

Aussie power kept Rajasthan Royals alive and kicking in IPL-V as Shane Watson and Shaun Tait drove the inaugural champions to a seven-wicket win over Pune Warriors on Tuesday.

Tait’s superlative bowling (three for 13) confined the home team to a paltry 125 after Sourav Ganguly elected to bat, and Watson’s rapid unbeaten 90 made the target appear even smaller than it was. The win, achieved with 22 balls to spare, took Royals to fourth on the points table, while for Pune their sixth consecutive loss meant that the climb back into last-four contention now borders on the impossible.

Such was Watson’s dominance that he needed little help from any other batsman – the next highest score for Royals was 18. The Australian all-rounder revved into activity in the third over of the chase, going after Murali Karthik. After clearing long-on with a brutal strike, Watson went for a repeat and was almost caught by the incredible Steven Smith at the boundary.

Smith, a genuine contender for the best fielder in the world today, caught the ball and realizing he was going to overstep the boundary, tossed the ball in, but failed to hurl it the required distance. Smith pushed the ball in again – still beyond the boundary, but with both feet off the ground – and finally caught it on his third attempt. A six was declared, but full points to Smith for attempting an implausible catch at the boundary – something he’s been doing almost every bloody match.

Watson continued with the same intensity, reaching his fifty in 27 balls, and ended with ten fours, and four sixes, to his name, twice the number scored by the entire Pune team. He was named Man of the match, but there was another contender who could have justifiably staked his claim on that honour – Tait.

Tait bowled with fire as Pune struggled after electing to bat. The home team scored just five fours and two sixes to stagger to 125 – not the most ideal platform from which to arrest a five-match losing streak. Ganguly inexplicably assumed opening duties alongside Michael Clarke.

The two struggled to find the boundary and had scored one apiece when the Pune captain fell to a Tait bouncer that had likely been fired in at the behest of Ganguly’s opposite number- Rahul Dravid.
Dravid’s familiarity with Ganguly’s mode of play resulted in the left-hander’s wicket after the former India captain had been dropped by Tait off a Watson short delivery in the previous over.

Soon after Ganguly’s exit, Clarke was trapped in front by Stuart Binny, depriving Pune of their senior-most batsmen one ball beyond the Powerplay – which contained an unpardonable 20 dot balls.
Despite the lethargy of the innings, Pune chose to promote Bengal’s Anustup Majumdar over the far more aggressive Angelo Mathews and Steven Smith. Majumdar looked to break free when he tonked two sixes off Ankeet Chavan, but soon lost his stumps to a Johan Botha yorker.

Robin Uthappa carried on for a while in the same sluggish vein of his previous IPL-V knocks and Steven Smith too failed to take off. Pune scored at less than a run-a all in the last eight overs, indicating just how fine a job Tait and Binny (3-0-12-1) had accomplished for Royals.

Source: Yahoo Cricket

After batsmen, Royals bowlers fired in unison to help Rajasthan register a comfortable 43-run victory over Kings XI Punjab in an Indian Premier League match at the PCA stadium, Mohali on Saturday.

Chasing 178-run target, Punjab lost wickets at regular intervals against Rajasthan.

Johan Botha struck again to dismiss Gurkeerat Singh (23) to reduce Punjab to 112/6 in 16.3 overs.

Stuart Binny dismissed Azhar Mahmood (24) in the fifteenth over to add more misery to hosts Punjab. Mahmood hit a six and two fours in his run-a-ball innings.

Rajasthan bowlers kept the hold over the Punjab batsmen as the hosts lost four top-order wickets inside nine overs.

Johan Botha dismissed Shaun Marsh (34) in the ninth over to reduce Punjab to 59/4 in 8.3 overs. Marsh hit a six and five boundaries in his quick 27-ball innings.

Siddharth Trivedi got rid of Punjab skipper David Hussey (8) in the eighth over soon after Shaun Tait dismissed Nitin Saini (2) in the sixth as Punjab struggled to break free in their run chase.

Punjab lost opener Mandeep Singh (7) in the second over against Rajasthan. Pacer Shane Watson struck early in his first over to reduce to 8/1 in 1.3 overs.

Electing to bat, Royals batsmen fired in unison to help Rajasthan post 177/6 against Kings XI Punjab.

Punjab pacer Ryan Harris struck twice in the final over to stop the visitors from crossing the 180-run mark, which looked possible when Brad Hodge (36) was going ballistic.

Harris dismissed Stuart Binny (0) and Hodge to finish his spell with 4 for 34 runs in four overs. Spinner Piyush Chawla (2-38) was the only other successful bowler for the Kings XI.

Hodge hit couple of huge sixes and two fours in his 23-ball blitzkrieg whereas Johan Botha (14 off 8 balls) remained unbeaten for the Royals.

Rajasthan lost Ashok Maneria (34) and Rahul Dravid (46) in quick succession in the middle overs.

Chawla struck again to get rid of Maneria in the sixteenth over soon after Rajasthan lost their skipper in the 14th. Maneria hit two sixes and a four in his quick-fire 27-ball innings.

Punjab pacer Ryan Harris got better of Dravid in the fourteenth over to reduce Royals to 117/3 in 13.2 overs. Dravid hit eight boundaries in his quick 39 balls innings and put on 41-run for the third wicket with Ashok Menaria.

Dravid also added quick 69-run stand for the second wicket with Shane Watson (36) as the duo resurrected the Royals run charge after early blow.

Chawla spun magic to get rid of Watson in the eighth over to reduce Rajasthan to 76/2. Watson smashed two sixes and four fours in his 17-ball whirlwind knock.

Harris struck in his very first over to give hosts Punjab an early breakthrough when he dismissed in-form opener Ajinkya Rahane (5) and reduced Rajasthan to 7/1 in 1.2 overs.

Earlier, Rajasthan skipper Rahul Dravid won the toss and decided to bat against Punjab.

Rajasthan brought in Shaun Tait, Johan Botha and Dishant Yagnik as they left out Owais Shah, Brad Hogg and Shreevats Goswami from the playing XI.

Stand-in skipper David Hussey will lead the Punjab side again as Adam Gilchrist is still not match-fit. “He’s been running around, hitting balls, I don’t think he’s too far away,” Hussey said about Gilchrist fitness.

Just one change for the home side as Gurkeerat Singh made his debut replacing Paras Dogra.

Teams:

Kings XI Punjab: David Hussey (capt), Piyush Chawla, Parvinder Awana, Azhar Mahmood, Ryan Harris, Nitin Saini (wk), Abhishek Nayar, Mandeep Singh, Praveen Kumar, Shaun Marsh, Gurkeerat Singh.

Rajasthan Royals: Rahul Dravid (capt), Siddharth Trivedi, Shane Watson, Shaun Tait, Dishant Yagnik (wk), Brad Hodge, Ankeet Chavan, Johan Botha, Stuart Binny, Ashok Menaria, Ajinkya Rahane.

Source: Times of India

Skipper Virender Sehwag smashed 38-ball 73 to help Delhi Daredevils thrash Rajasthan Royals by 6 wickets in their Indian Premier League match at the Sawai Mansingh stadium.

Sehwag’s blitzkrieg make sure that Delhi chased down the modest 142-run target in just 15.2 overs as Daredevils continue their winning momentum. With the victory, Delhi registered their eight wins in ten matches and stand atop the points table with 16 points.

Sehwag raced to his fifty in just 20 balls to lead the Delhi run chase. Sehwag put on 96-run stand with Pietersen for the second wicket in quick time as the duo revive the run chase after early blow.

Sehwag smacked one six and a dozen boundaries in his whirlwind innings before Brad Hogg got better of him in the fifteenth over. But it was too little too late as Delhi required just 11 runs with 5.2 overs to go after Sehwag’s fall.

Delhi lost Ross Taylor (6) and Kevin Pietersen (36) in quick succession to be reduced to 106/3 in 11.4 overs.

Hogg dismissed Taylor in the twelfth over after Shane Watson got rid of Pietersen in the previous over to break the imposing second wicket stand between KP and Sehwag.

Pietersen hit a six and three fours in his 34-ball patient knock as he played the second fiddle to marauding Sehwag.

With the latest half-century, Sehwag scored record fifth consecutive fifties of the season.

Delhi raced to fifty in just five overs and scored 61 runs with the loss of 1 wicket in the mandatory six powerplay overs.

Ankeet Chavan struck in the very first over to give Rajasthan an early breakthrough. Chavan trapped Mahela Jayawardene leg before wicket to reduce Delhi 0/1 in 0.3 overs.

Asked to field first, young leg-spinner Pawan Negi (4-18) helped Daredevils restrict Royals to 141/6.

Rajasthan openers Rahul Dravid (57) and Ajinkya Rahane (42) started their innings aggressively as they added 71 runs to lay down a solid foundation but the latter batsmen couldn’t capitalize on it.

Negi struck twice in his final over to rock the Royals innings as they lost five wickets in the span of 25 runs.

Dravid hit seven boundaries in his quick-fire 43-ball knock before pacer Morne Morkel got better of him in the penultimate over. Dravid raced to his half-century in 35 balls to hold the one end as wickets kept falling from the other end after a solid start.

Pawan Negi removed Brad Hodge (1) and Ashok Menaria (2) and leave the Royals stuttering at 95/5 in 13 overs.

Pacer Umesh Yadav struck in the twelfth over to dismiss Owais Shah (1) and reduced Rajasthan to 90/3 in 11.4 overs.

Pawan Negi dismissed Shane Watson (8) soon after he got rid of in-form Ajinkya Rahane (42) in the ninth over.

Skipper Rahul Dravid and Rahane started Rajasthan innings aggressively and added 71 runs for the opening wicket.

Rajasthan scored 56 runs in their mandatory powerplay of six overs without losing any wicket.

The most successful opening pair of IPL 5 has added fifty-run stand in just 5 overs to lay down a solid foundation for the hosts.

Earlier, Rajasthan skipper Rahul Dravid won the toss and decided to bat against Delhi on Tuesday.

Squads:

Rajasthan Royals: Rahul Dravid (capt), Ajinkya Rahane, Brad Hodge, Owais Shah, Shreevats Goswami (wk), Ashok Menaria, Shane Watson, Brad Hogg, Ankeet Chavan, Pankaj Singh, Amit Singh.

Delhi Daredevils: Mahela Jayawardena, Virender Sehwag (capt), Kevin Pietersen, Ross Taylor, Yogesh Nagar, Naman Ojha (wk), Irfan Pathan, Pawan Negi, Umesh Yadav, Morne Morkel, Shahbaz Nadeem.

Source: Times of India

Rajasthan Royals suffered the loss of Owais Shah and Shreevats Goswami in quick succession against Royal Challengers Bangalore in their IPL 5 match at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur.

KP Appanna rocked Rajasthan chase by claiming the first four wickets including the prize scalp of Rahul Dravid. Shah and Goswami also failed to consolidate Royals innings.

Rahul Dravid slammed a fifty to keep Rajasthan afloat in the mammoth chase of 190. Dravid reached to his fifty in 34 balls, smashing eight fours in his 58-run knock.

Rajasthan Royals started off well as Rahul Dravid and Ajinkya Rahane shared 56-run opening wicket stand against Royal Challengers Bangalore in their IPL 5 match at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur.

Rahane was not looking in his touch as he managed to score 13 off 18 balls. KP Appanna struck to give Bangalore much-needed breakthrough.

Earlier, a swashbuckling show by AB de Villiers in slog overs and a gritty unbeaten knock by Tilakaratne Dilshan powered Royal Challengers Bangalore to a daunting 189/3.

Opener Dilshan stayed unbeaten on 76 while de Villiers slammed a fiery 59 off 23 balls to help visitors set a massive target for hosts.

Villiers smashed five dazzling sixes and three boundaries during his knock and shared a solid 122-run stand for the fourth wicket with Dilshan.

Pacer Pankaj Singh gave Rajasthan first success as he got Virat Kohli (16) caught near boundary line after a steady start by RCB, who were invited to bat.

Kohli scored 16 and shared 23-run stand for the first wicket.

Dilshan then consolidated the innings with Mayank Agarwal. However, Brad Hogg didn’t allow Agarwal (15) to move further and got him caught by Hodge in the 10th over.

Before Bangalroe could recover from the blow, Hogg struck again to trap Chris Gayle in front of the wickets to reduce Bangalore to 67/2.

Dilshan was then joined by de Villiers at the crease. The duo denied Rajasthan any breakthrough and took their side to a big total.

Rajasthan Royals brought in Pankaj Singh and Ajit Chandila while Tilakaratne Dilshan is back in Bangalore along with KP Appanna.

Interestingly, Rajasthan’s only away win has been against Bangalore, by a rather comfortable 59-run margin on April 15.

Equations have changed since, with both Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers rocking for the Daniel Vettori-led side. There is a sense of solidity in the team, with Gayle leading the show.

RCB: Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, Saurabh Tiwary, AB de Villiers, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Daniel Vettori, Arun Karthik, Vinay Kumar, Kotarangada Appanna, Zaheer Khan

RR: Rahul Dravid, Ajinkya Rahane, Owais Shah, Ashok Menaria, Brad Hodge, Kevon Cooper, Shreevats Goswami, Ajit Chandila, Brad Hogg, Pankaj Singh, Siddharth Trivedi

Source: Times of India

Du Plessis continued his good form as Chennai Super Kings chased down the target of 147 in the last delivery.

Defending champions Chennai Super Kings chalked up their fourth win in seven matches as they beat Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets off the last ball in their Indian Premier League (IPL) encounter on Saturday.

Opener Francois du Plessis (73) yet again proved to be the Super Kings’ mainstay as the hosts overhauled Royals’ modest total of 146 for four that was built around a 92-run stand between Owais Shah (52) and Ashok Menaria (36).

In reply, the Super Kings just about clinched a win after Royals seamer Kevon Cooper took two wickets in one over before skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (15 off 12) and Dwayne Bravo (16 off 10) scripted a thrilling win as the hosts moved to eight points, the same as Royals.

The Super Kings’ chase began on a strong note with du Plessis taking 12 runs off seamer Stuart Binny, playing his first IPL game this season, in the second over.

South African du Plessis was particularly severe on the bowlers as he set the tone for another big partnership following their century stand in the previous game with a six over extra-cover off left-arm spinner Menaria being outstanding.

The 50 came up with that shot, but in the next over, Badrinath, rather subdued, was stumped off left-arm spinner Brad Hogg, the best of Royals bowlers, while attempting an ambitious inside-out shot.

It was not long before du Plessis completed his third half-century in four games as the Super Kings cruised untroubled towards victory.

At the other end, Suresh Raina, woefully short of form, struggled, but with du Plessis looking solid at the other end, the southpaw was not under undue pressure to get a move on.

With the duo adding 61 runs at a good clip, the Super Kings seemed to have the game all sewn up, but Cooper removed both du Plessis and Raina in the 17th over to shift the momentum in favour of Royals.

But then, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Bravo, two of the best finishers in this format, ensured no further shocks for the Super Kings as they took 13 off the next over bowled by Amit Singh, leaving the hosts to get 16 off the last two overs.

In the tense last over bowled by Binny, Dhoni ran a two off the last ball to clinch the issue for the Super Kings.

Earlier, the Royals enjoyed a decent start against some tight bowling. Nuwan Kulasekara, in particular, was quite outstanding while off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin backed him with a very economical spell.

Rahul Dravid (26) and this season’s leading scorer Ajinkya Rahane (15) put on 36 runs for the first wicket with 15 of those coming in the third over bowled by Dwayne Bravo, before the pair was separated.

Ashwin dismissed Rahane in his very first over with the batsman getting impatient and holing our tamely to Kulasekara and soon after, Dravid departed attempting a big heave in Jakati’s first over and getting caught in the deep by Doug Bollinger.

Thereafter, Shah and young Menaria batted with understandable circumspection before opening their shoulders to provide some momentum to the innings.

Seamer Bravo and Super Kings’ expensive signing Ravindra Jadeja, the left-arm spinner, proved costly as Shah and Menaria showcased their big-hitting ability. So much so that the pair put on 92 runs for the third wicket as the Royals looked at a 150-plus total.

However, Kulasekara, returning for his second spell, sent down two tight overs to peg the Royals while at the other end, Bollinger got rid of Menaria in the 19th.

Shah was the last to be dismissed off the final over conceding just four runs to peg the Royals to 146, perhaps a good 20 runs short against a team that boasted of a strong battling line-up.

Source: Yahoo Cricket

When coming to Chennai Super kings, they showed very good overall performance in their previous match. They showed they can stay calm in pressure situations and fightback. The openers Faf du Plessis, and Badrinath were too good. They alone contributed 116runs to the score. We cannot forget the huge sixers by MS Dhoni. He made 28runs of 12 balls. On the bowling side they have good bowlers like Kulasekara, who took the wickets of the openers, Ashwin, Bollinger and Jadeja, who is also a good all rounder.

When coming to Rajasthan Royals, they have shown good performance though-out these season. They have grabbed 4 victories out of 6 matches they have played. They have good batting line-up, which include the Ajinkya Rahane, who made showed very good batting performance. They also include other good batsmen like the skipper Rahul Dravid, Ashok Menaria, Owais Shah, and also Brad Hodge, who with unbeaten 48runs in 21 balls helped them to have a easy win over Deccan Cahrgers.

However, the bowling line-up is not good with RR. One good news is that Kevon Copper is back after 3 matches. They also include bowlers like Brad Hogg, Sidharth Trivedi and Pankaj Singh. However both the teams are confident of winning.

IPL 2012 – Chennai Super Kings vs Rajasthan Royals Match Details

Teams: Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royal
Place of Stadium: MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai
Time of Match: 4:00PM 21th April 2012
Watch live Chennai Super Kings vs Rajasthan Royal at Live Streaming