In a little over an hour the Warner opera knocked the stuffing out of Chennai Super Kings. The Australian opener turned up trumps with a match-winning unbeaten 135 for New South Wales in a crunch match at Chepauk on Tuesday that left the home side gasping for breath.

By the time David Warner finished his and New South Wales innings, CSK were practically out of the match as they were asked to climb a mountain of 202 to get in 17 overs so that they could overtake the Chennai side on run-rate. Eventually, NSW won by 46 runs to advance to the semifinals as first from the group with six points along with Mumbai Indians in second place.

The Super Kings were perilously close to elimination when Cape Cobras almost defended their total in the first match, but they got a new lease of life when T&T came back from the dead. However, CSK’s survival lasted only three more hours as New South Wales sent the hosts to the gallows unceremoniously. The only solace for the homeside was that the spectators who came to the stadium did not have to watch an inconsequential match.

Warner’s 135 off 69 balls had 11 fours and eight towering sixes. The southpaw swept the CSK bowlers with monotonous regularity and most of his sweep shots landed in the stands. One of the rare shots that he played straight off medium-pacer Bravo stunningly cleared the field. Such was the ease with which Warner played that CSK were virtually butchered in the second half of the innings.

There were moments when CSK thought they had come back to life. This was after a solid opening-wicket stand between Warner and Watson which yielded 54 from 6.4 overs. Solid but not yet indicating the carnage that was in store.

Then Smith and Warner put on 100 in no time. Smith was the silent partner with a contribution of 31 off 29 balls as Warner cut loose. The last 15 balls cost CSK 47 runs and when they came back for their chase, they had only three overs fewer to make 200-odd runs. The run-rate factor had added insult to the wounds caused by Warner.

CSK’s chances of getting 202 in 17 overs largely depended on Mike Hussey, who promised much with a short and sweet 37 off 27 balls before he was adjudged lbw to a slower ball from Clark. The asking rate had climbed to 14 and the CSK challenge ended with every passing over.

At the halfway stage of 10 overs, CSK were 88 for three and they began losing more wickets as left-arm spinner O’Keefe took three wickets for 28 runs from his four overs. CSK brought down the shutters at 119 for seven and were 59 runs short when they reached 17 overs.

Teams:

Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt.), R Ashwin, S Badrinath, Doug Bollinger, Dwayne Bravo, Michael Hussey, Shadab Jakati, Suresh Raina, Wriddhiman Saha, M Vijay, KMDN Kulasekara.

New South Wales: Simon Katich (Capt.), Stuart Clark, Pat Cummins, Moises Henriques, Steve O’Keefe, Ben Rohrer, Daniel Smith, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner, Shane Watson.

Source: Times of India

Fine bowling by Sunil Narine (3/8) helped Trinidad & Tobago beat Chennai Super Kings by 12 runs to register their first win in the Champions League Twenty20 at MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai on Sunday.

Narine dismissed Murali Vijay, Suresh Raina and skipper MS Dhoni to guide West Indian outfit towards victory, which also placed defending champion at the bottom of the table of Group A.

Both the teams have won a single game out of three matches and it seems unlikely for them to make it to the semifinals.

Subramaniam Badrinath, who showed some resistance to stay on the crease, was sent back to the pavilion by Daren Ganga’s brilliant field work.

Ravi Rampaul and Kevon Cooper also joined the party as they removed Mike Hussey and Wriddhiman Saha respectively to reduce Chennai to 48/4 in 9.6 overs.

T&T’s Sunil Narine gave Chennai Super Kings double jolt as he dismissed Murali Vijay and Suresh Raina in his successive overs.

Earlier, Doug Bollinger took three wickets and Shadab Jakati scalped two as Chennai restricted Trinidad and Tobago to 123/8.

Bollinger dismissed Sherwin Ganga and Kevon Cooper in the last over of the T&T innings.

Cooper hit 3 sixes and a four in his 10-ball 28.

Bollinger clean bowled Adrian Barath to reduce T&T to 92/6.

Dwayne Bravo struck against his former team when he trapped Denesh Ramdin plumb in front of the wicket.

T&T captain Daren Ganga continued his poor form with the bat when he edged a R Ashwin delivery high up in the air for Suresh Raina to take the catch.

Jakati dismissed William Perkins and Darren Bravo in successive overs.

Jakati first had Perkins caught by S Badrinath at backward point. Perkins hit 2 sixes and 2 fours in his 28-ball 34.

T&T lost their second wicket in the next over when Lendl Simmons failed to beat the throw from Wriddhiman Saha into the hands of MS Dhoni, who removed the stumps.

Jakati then took his second wicket when he took a good return catch to dismiss Bravo.

The breakthroughs came after Trinidad and Tobago captain Daren Ganga won the toss and chose to bat.

T&T brought in William Perkins in place of Jason Mohammed. The Super Kings are unchanged from the last match.

Teams:

Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt.), Murali Vijay, Michael Hussey, Suresh Raina, S Badrinath, Albie Morkel, Dwayne Bravo, Wriddhiman Saha, R Ashwin, Doug Bollinger, Shadab Jakati.

Trinidad and Tobago: Daren Ganga (Capt.), Lendl Simmons, William Perkins, Adrian Barath, Darren Bravo, Denesh Ramdin, Sherwin Ganga, Kevon Cooper, Ravi Rampaul, Sunil Narine, Samuel Badree.

Source: Times of India

Late heroics by Dwayne Bravo (46*) propelled Chennai Super Kings to an emphatic four wickets victory over Cape Cobras in their Champions League T20 match.

Duminy struck thrice for the Cape Cobras to put Chennai on the back foot.

Openers Michael Hussey and Murali Vijay fell after giving Chennai a good start. However, the middle order couldn’t contribute much with the bat as wicket started falling in regular intervals.

CSK was reeling at 77/5 after the loss of 11.5 overs.

Earlier, Owais Shah and JP Duminy chipped in with useful contributions as Cape Cobras set Chennai Super Kings a modest target of 146 runs.

Cobras, who at one stage looked set to score over 170, were done in by pacer Albie Morkel, who put the breaks on the visitors’ scoring rate by claiming two important wickets.

At the end of 16th over, Cobras were comfortably placed at 124 for three, thanks to some brisk batting by Shah and Duminy, but once the former (45 off 38 balls) fell to Morkel, Cobras lost the plot, losing wickets at regular intervals.

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin got rid of Richard Levi (6) off his first delivery when he had the opener trapped to provide Chennai their first breakthrough.

The Cobras slumped to 40 for two in the fifth over as Herschelle Gibbs (18) too departed, miscuing a Doug Bollinger delivery, but not before playing some exquisite strokes.

After the departure of both the openers, Dane Vilas (18) and Shah kept the scoreboard moving with occasional fours as the South African T20 champions crossed the 50-run mark in the seventh over.

As the batsmen were settling down, Dwayne Bravo bowled Vilas with a slower one that straightened after pitching.

Vilas struck a four and a six in his 19-ball knock. But the loss did not stop Shah from taking risk as he first plundered two consecutive fours off Bollinger in the 11th over and then hit slow left-arm orthodox Shadab Jakati for a huge six over long-on to keep the scoreboard tickling.

Shah and J P Duminy (29), who came at the fall of Vilas, took the team past 100 in 12.4 overs.

Duminy got a reprieve in the 16th over when Jakati dropped him off his own bowling, when he was on 29.

However, Duminy failed to capitalise on the dropped chance as he was caught by Jakati at short fine-leg in the next over off Albie Morkel.

Cobras were dealt a big blow when the in-form Shah too departed in the same over, caught at midwicket by Michael Hussey off Morkel.

Once Duminy and Shah departed, Cobras struggled to get off the blocks against a disciplined bowling effort, led by Morkel as they scored just 16 runs off the last four overs.

For Chennai, Morkel, Dwayne Bravo and Doug Bollinger accounted for two wickets each, while Ashwin chipped in with one.

Teams:

Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt.), Michael Hussey, Murali Vijay, Suresh Raina, S Badrinath, Albie Morkel, Dwayne Bravo, Wriddhiman Saha, R Ashwin, Doug Bollinger, Shadab Jakati.

Cape Cobras: Justin Kemp (Capt.), Richard Levi, Herschelle Gibbs, Jean-Paul Duminy, Owais Shah, Dane Vilas, Vernon Philander, Justin Ontong, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn, Charl Langeveldt.

Source: Times of India

Lasith Malinga looked stunned when Mike Hussey swept his fast yorker to the boundary. But by the end of the evening, it was Malinga’s turn to leave Chennai Super Kings shattered.

What he couldn’t do with the ball, Malinga ( 37 off 18 balls) did with the bat when CSK had all but wrapped it up. Coming in at No. 9, he hit left-arm spinner Shadab Jakati for two consecutive sixes in the 17th over and even Mr Cool MS Dhoni panicked.

He missed a stumping and when Malinga’s edge off Bollinger went to the third-man boundary in the 18th, the match had turned on its head. Mumbai Indians needed 11 off the last over and with Doug Bollinger bowling, the IPL champions still fancied their chances.

But Malinga was in the zone and when Harbhajan hit the crucial boundary with two balls to go, it was all over for CSK. Harbhajan kept his head and finished the job in 19.5 overs, which gave Mumbai Indians one of their best wins ever.

Chasing 159 for victory, the Mumbai Indians started with a flourish with Sachin Tendulkar, sitting in the dressing-room, looking really happy. Davy Jacobs and Aiden Blizzard were going great guns, but the moment Dhoni brought his spinners on, things started falling into place for CSK.

Ashwin had Jacobs stumped down the legs while Raina got the wickets of Blizzard and Suman with subtle variations of flight that left Mumbai Indians in the doldrums.

Local boy R Sathish looked to take the fight to CSK, but Ashwin’s carrom ball had him plumb in front. When Kieron Pollard left, even the biggest Mumbai fan didn’t expect a win, but Malinga had other ideas.

Earlier, Hussey was in a league of his own. He has been playing for CSK for the last three seasons and knows all about the conditions. He knows that the pitch is slow (despite being relaid) and the best way is to wait for the ball instead of committing early.

Source: Times of India

What would have been on Chennai Super Kings’ wish list before this final? 1) Win toss on a slow pitch. 2) Great start by the openers. 3) Remove Chris Gayle for a duck. PS: While we are it why not knock out AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli cheaply? They got all that. Chennai produced a near-perfect game and mauled Royal Challengers Bangalore to lift their second IPL trophy.

M Vijay has rarely converted his starts this IPL and Michael Hussey hasn’t sparkled in the previous few games. So what they do on the day of the big finale? They amass a sizzling 159-run partnership to launch Chennai to a massive total at the Chidambaram Stadium. R Ashwin then derailed the chase by packing off Gayle for a duck in the first over. Game over.

It was the ease with which the runs flowed and the calm manner in which they were accumulated by the Chennai openers that caught the eye. There were several big shots but nearly all of them were in conventional zones. There was just one bad shot in the first 14 overs. Just one. In the 10th over, Vijay had just played a nonchalant flick that sailed just clear of a lunging Luke Pomersbach on the deep-midwicket boundary. He then tried to slog the next ball across the line and edged it to the leg side. The reaction of the players reflected their awareness of the need to keep adrenalin in check: Vijay shadow practiced a straighter arc of the bat and Hussey rushed across to have a long chat.

For the duration of the partnership, which lasted 14.5 overs, they complemented each other with contrasting approaches. Hussey punctuated his bunts, chips and drives with the occasional big hit – the highlight was a monstrous heave off Syed Mohammad that crashed into the roof beyond wide long-on. Vijay went the other way. He punctuated his flamboyant on-the-up hits with quieter punches for singles and twos. They both ran between the wickets hard and fast and the scoring-rate never flagged. Vijay grew increasingly tired but it was Hussey who fell first, swatting a full toss from Mohammad to long-on. By then, they had laid a great platform.

It was Vijay who started the mayhem off the final delivery of the second over with a special shot. It was a short-of-length delivery with little room for maneuvering, or so it seemed, but Vijay wafted it on the up and through the line for a flamboyant six over long-on. Hussey pulled the next delivery, from Zaheer Khan, over the backward square-leg boundary to launch the assault. They repeated that double-dose of sixes again. Hussey swung the final delivery of the fifth over, bowled by Mohammad, over the midwicket boundary and Vijay lifted the next ball, from Chris Gayle, over long-on. Chennai reached 56 for 0 in six overs and kept going from strength to strength.

They started their bowling in the same way. Ashwin just needed three deliveries to remove the chief thorn in their path. The first two turned sharply away from Gayle before the third swerved in from round the stumps and skidded on to collect the edge from an attempted cut. de Villiers reeled off a few big shots but was trapped by Shadab Jakati and Suresh Raina had Kohli lbw to sew up the game for Chennai.

In contrast Bangalore slipped on the little things that matter on this stage. In the Powerplay, there were three instances of fielders succumbing to adrenalin rushes and indulging in needless throws; one, from Saurabh Tiwary, even went to the boundary. Pomersbach could have done a better job in seizing that chance from Vijay in the 10th over, and S Aravind messed up an opportunity to run out Hussey in the 12th over. Vijay, the non-striker, had called Hussey for a risky single and Aravind, the bowler who picked up the ball at short mid-on, flung it wide at the non-striker’s end. There was another instance in the 11th over when the bowler, Mohammad, flung himself full stretch to his right but couldn’t hang on to a difficult chance offered by Vijay. It was that kind of day. Things just didn’t go right for Bangalore and everything went according to script for Chennai.

Sriram Veera is a staff writer at ESPNcricinfo

Chennai Super Kings beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by six wickets to reach IPL 4 final as Suresh Raina hit an unbeaten 50-ball 73 at Wankhede stadium in Mumbai on Tuesday.

Chennai chased down the 176-run target in 19.4 overs as Raina and Albie Morkel put up a 46-run stand off 18 balls.

Raina’s unbeaten knock was studded with 6 sixes and 4 fours and Morkel hit 3 sixes and a four in his 10-ball 28.

Zaheer Khan had Chennai captain MS Dhoni caught by Abhimanyu Mithun at long-on soon after Suresh Raina hit a 41-ball fifty.

Dhoni hit a six and 3 fours in his 19-ball 29 before falling to Zaheer.

Raina and Dhoni added 61 runs for the fourth wicket after Abhimanyu Mithun had Subramaniam Badrinath caught by Sreenath Aravind at sweeper cover.

Badrinath hit 5 fours in his 32-ball 34 and added 63 runs for the third wicket with Raina before falling to Mithun.

Chennai’s run chase got off to a bad start as Zaheer Khan and Sreenath Aravind dismissed their openers in the first two overs.

Zaheer struck first when he trapped Michael Hussey plumb in front of the wicket on the fourth ball of the Chennai innings for a duck.

Aravind then dismissed Murali Vijay leg before wicket in the second over to place Chennai to 7/2.

Earlier, Virat Kohli hit an unbeaten 44-ball 70 to power Bangalore to 175/4 against Chennai.

Kohli’s unbeaten knock was studded with 3 sixes and 5 fours and he put a 48-run stand with Luke Pomersbach to lead Bangalore’s recovery.

Pomersbach hit 2 sixes and 2 fours in his 18-ball 29 before he was clean bowled by a slower delivery from Doug Bollinger.

Chennai had seized the advantage when Shadab Jakati had AB de Villiers caught by Murali Vijay at long-on.

de Villiers hit a six in his 10-ball 11 before losing his wicket.

Dwayne Bravo had Mayank Agarwal caught by Doug Bollinger at long-on to place Bangalore at 65/2 in 9 overs.

Mayank hit 5 fours in his 33-ball 34 before falling to Bravo.

Ravichandran Ashwin gave Chennai an early breakthrough when he trapped the dangerous Chris Gayle plumb in front of the wicket.

Ashwin struck immediately after getting hit for a six.

Gayle hit a six in his 9-ball 8 before falling to Ashwin.

The breakthrough came after Chennai captain MS Dhoni won the toss and chose to bowl.

Both Chennai and Bangalore have the same playing eleven.

Teams:

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Daniel Vettori (Capt.), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Mohammad Kaif, Saurabh Tiwary, Luke Pomersbach, Sreenath Aravind, Abhimanyu Mithun, Zaheer Khan.

Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt.), Michael Hussey, Murali Vijay, Suresh Raina, Albie Morkel, Subramaniam Badrinath, Dwayne Bravo, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Doug Bollinger, Shadab Jakati.

Source: Times of India

Chris Gayle smashed an unbeaten 75 as Royal Challengers Bangalore topped the points table with an eight-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League on Sunday.

The West Indies opener hit six sixes in his 50-ball knock as Bangalore surpassed Chennai’s total of 128-8 with two overs to spare in their last league match of the Twenty20 tournament.

Gayle, who added 80 for the second wicket with Virat Kohli (31), finished the match when he hit spinner Suresh Raina for 11 runs off the last three balls of the 18th over.

Bangalore (19 points), Chennai (18), Kolkata (16) and Mumbai (16) have already qualified for the play-offs. They are followed by Punjab (14), Rajasthan (13), Deccan (12), Kochi (12), Pune (nine) and Delhi (nine).

Chennai skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni hit six sixes in his explosive 40-ball 70 not out but received little support from the other end, the highest stand of the innings being 42 for the fifth wicket.

Chennai made a poor start after being put in to bat as they lost four wickets for 22 runs in the opening six overs, with left-arm paceman Zaheer Khan dismissing Australian Michael Hussey and Raina in successive overs.

Hussey could make just four runs before inside-edging a Zaheer devliery on to the stumps while Raina was caught by Kohli at point.

New Zealand left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori put more pressure on Chennai when he removed Subramaniam Badrinath and West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo to eventually finish with 2-15 off four overs.

Source: Yahoo Cricket

The MA Chidambaram Stadium continued to be a fortress that couldn’t be breached, as Chennai sealed a seventh straight win at home to end Kochi Tuskers Kerala’s maiden IPL campaign on a disappointing note. The win for the hosts was the only constant on an otherwise unusual day in Chennai. To begin with, it was not oppressively hot on a summer’s day; the pitch played slow and low and Kochi bowled with discipline to limit a power-packed batting line-up to a gettable total. The home side found an unlikely hero in Wriddhiman Saha, who seized on a promotion and an early let-off to play a decisive cameo. Lapses by Parthiv Patel, the replacement captain, with the gloves, and Kochi’s struggles to step it up in the chase, meant Chennai’s score of 152 was more than adequate.

For those who witnessed Adam Gilchrist’s ruthless onslaught against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Tuesday, this was a slightly laborious affair. The Kochi bowlers varied their lengths well and did not offer too many scoring opportunities; the seamers refrained from doling out length deliveries, while Muttiah Muralitharan prompted caution. Each time the hosts tried to improvise and go on the attack, they were pegged back by a wicket, earned by Kochi rather than handed out.

M Vijay smashed RP Singh for three boundaries in the third over, but was cleaned up by a perfectly-aimed yorker off the final ball. Suresh Raina was dropped by Parthiv first ball, and Sreesanth, the frustrated party, was made to rue that lapse with two huge sixes over long-on. But the bowler hit back in the same over, when Raina miscued a full toss. S Badrinath smashed a six over midwicket, but was caught brilliantly off the next ball when RP dived full length in the deep to pluck a catch inches from the ground. Saha, though, bucked the trend.

In a contrast to his senior partner Michael Hussey, who was tied down by the steady fall of wickets and his own struggle to push on, Saha infused some urgency in the Chennai innings after surviving a missed stumping by Parthiv. In a clear sign of intent following the second time-out at the end of the 13th over – the scoring rate was fractionally over six at that stage – Saha swept Ravindra Jadeja for six over square leg. In addition to aggressive running between the wickets and an adeptness in rotating the strike, Saha, picked for the Indian tour of West Indies, also indulged in some powerplay. He charged out to Muralitharan to loft him out of the ground and pulled RP into the stands behind deep midwicket to end the Chennai innings on a high.

Kochi needed a big win to keep themselves mathematically alive in this competition, but even the usually dominating Brendon McCullum was forced to exercise restraint against some determined bowling. R Ashwin kept one end locked up with his variations in turn, flight and pace, and sent back Parthiv in his second over. McCullum and Gnaneswara Rao picked up a couple of boundaries each but the innings appeared to stagnate soon after Rao’s dismissal. McCullum and Brad Hodge could do little during their stand to get on par with the climbing required-rate. Chennai didn’t concede a single boundary in the three overs that followed McCullum’s exit at 85 in the 14th over.

Kochi did manage a belated surge with Jadeja and Hodge trying to salvage what they could out of an impending defeat, reducing the margin of the loss to 12 runs – incidentally, the difference in Parthiv’s expected target at the toss.

Siddhartha Talya is a sub editor at ESPNcricinfo

Defending champions Chennai Super Kings cruised to the top of points table by inflicting an 18-run defeat over Delhi Daredevils in their IPL match at MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai on Thursday.

Ravichandran Ashwin and Dwayne Bravo took two wickets each after fifties by Subramaniam Badrinath and Mahendra Singh Dhoni as Chennai won the match comfortably.

Chasing a stiff victory target of 177 runs, Delhi managed to score 158/6 in 20 overs with Irfan Pathan top scoring for the visitors with an unbeaten 34-ball 44 that came with the help of 2 sixes and 3 fours.

Bravo took his second wicket when Michael Hussey took a good catch running in from long-off to dismiss Delhi captain James Hopes.

Delhi lost their fourth wicket when Ravichandran Ashwin clean bowled Venugopal Rao to reduce the hosts to 107/4.

Bravo struck in his first over when he had David Warner caught by Murali Vijay at deep mid-wicket as Daredevils lost their third wicket in pursuit of 177.

Warner hit 2 fours in his 25-ball 21 before falling to Bravo.

Bravo took a superb catch at backward point to dismiss Colin Ingram off Ravichandran Ashwin as Delhi lost their second wicket.

Ingram scored 7 before falling to Ashwin.

Delhi lost their first wicket when Albie Morkel had Naman Ojha caught by Shadab Jakati at mid-off.

Ojha hit 2 sixes and 3 fours in his 14-ball 25 before falling to Morkel.

Earlier, Subramaniam Badrinath and Mahendra Singh Dhoni smashed fifties to power Chennai Super Kings to 176/4.

Dhoni’s unbeaten 31-ball 63 was studded with 4 sixes and 5 fours.

Badrinath reached his half-century off 41 balls and Dhoni reached his fifty off 28 deliveries.

Badrinath hit a six and 6 fours in his 43-ball 55 before he was run out.

Murali Vijay hit a 33-ball 35 before Ajit Agarkar had him caught by Venugopal Rao at deep mid-wicket off a full toss.

Vijay hit 2 sixes and 2 fours in his knock before falling to Agarkar.

Varun Aaron had Suresh Raina caught by Irfan Pathan at fine-leg as Chennai lost their second wicket.

Raina hit a six and a four in his 10-ball 14 before mistiming a short ball from Aaron that resulted in his dismissal.

Irfan Pathan gave Delhi an early breakthrough when he trapped Michael Hussey plumb in front of the wicket in the first over.

The breakthrough came after Chennai captain MS Dhoni won the toss and chose to bat.

Chennai are unchanged from the last match while Delhi have brought in Andrew McDonald and Varun Aaron in place of Morne Morkel and the injured Virender Sehwag.

Teams:

Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt.), Michael Hussey, Murali Vijay, Suresh Raina, Albie Morkel, Subramaniam Badrinath, Dwayne Bravo, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Doug Bollinger, Shadab Jakati.

Delhi Daredevils: James Hopes (Capt.), David Warner, Naman Ojha, Yogesh Nagar, Venugopal Rao, Colin Ingram, Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Shahbaz Nadeem, Andrew McDonald, Varun Aaron.

Source: Times of India

Chasing 197-run target, Rajasthan Royals lost wickets at regular intervals against Chennai Super Kings in their Indian Premier League match at Sawai Mansingh stadium in Jaipur.

Click here to watch Rajasthan Royals vs Chennai Super Kings from Sawai Mansingh stadium in Jaipur

Dwayne Bravo scalped Ajinkya Rahane (52) in the fifteenth over after the young batsman scored a quick-fire fifty to revive Rajasthan run chase.

Rahane smashed seven boundaries in his 36-ball rapid innings and raced to his fifty in just 33 balls.

Super Kings dismissed Ashok Menaria (2) and Ross Taylor (6) in consecutive overs to halt Rajasthan run chase. Spinner R Ashwin got rid of Menaria in the tenth over after pacer Albie Morkel dismissed Taylor in the previous over.

Royals also lost Shane Watson (11) and Rahul Dravid (20) in quick succession against Super Kings as their run chase started on the wrong foot.

Ashwin struck in his first over to dismiss Watson in the sixth over and reduced Royals to 48/2 in 5.5 overs.

Dravid started Royals innings confidently before Chennai pacer Doug Bollinger dismissed him in the fourth over to give Super Kings a vital breakthrough. Dravid hit two fours in his 16-ball knock.

Sent in to bat, Super Kings batsmen fired in unison to lead Chennai to 196/3 against Rajasthan.

Skipper MS Dhoni (41 not out) and Suresh Raina (43) capitalised on the good work done by the openers as they toyed with Royals bowlers to set mammoth 197-run target for Rajasthan.

Dhoni hit three huge sixes and three boundaries in his unbeaten 19-ball blitzkrieg and added quick 44-run stand for the third wicket after losing the openers.

Raina smashed six boundaries in his 27-ball knock before young Royals pacer Amit Singh clean bowled him in the penultimate over.

Michael Hussey (46) and Murali Vijay (53) gave Super Kings an aggressive start as they added 77-run opening stand inside the first ten overs.

Vijay ran himself out after scoring a quick fifty. Johan Botha’s direct throw in the fifteenth over ended Vijay’s stay at the crease after the Chennai opener was very casual in completing his run.

Vijay smashed a huge six off Siddharth Trivedi to complete his quick 36-ball half-century. The CSK opener smashed two fours and three sixes in his 40-ball knock.

Botha broke the rapid opening partnership between Hussey and Vijay in the tenth over to give Rajasthan crucial breakthrough. Hussey made quick-fire 46 off 30 balls with the help of eight boundaries.

Chennai openers started their innings aggressively as they raced to fifty in just 5.2 overs against Rajasthan.

Earlier, Royals skipper Shane Warne won the toss and decided to field against Super Kings on Monday.

Teams:

Rajasthan Royals: Shane Warne (capt), Johan Botha, Rahul Dravid, Ashok Menaria, Ajinkya Rahane, Abhishek Raut, Amit Singh, Ross Taylor, Siddharth Trivedi, Shane Watson, Dishant Harendra Yagnik (wk).

Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt/wk), Michael Hussey, Murali Vijay, Suresh Raina, Albie Morkel, Subramaniam Badrinath, Ravichandran Ashwin, Doug Bollinger, Shadab Jakati, Dwayne Bravo, Wriddhiman Saha.

Source: Times of India