Kings XI Punjab severely dented the chances of Chennai Super Kings qualifying for the play-offs and kept themselves in the reckoning with a convincing six-wicket win in the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the picturesque HPCA Stadium on Thursday.

Skipper Adam Gilchrist, making a comeback to the Kings XI set-up after a hamstring injury kept him out of nine matches, scored an unbeaten 64 of 46 balls to carry his team past the 121-run target set by Chennai.

Thus, Kings XI (16 points) moved into the fifth position behind Chennai (17). Punjab have to play table-toppers Delhi Daredevils while Chennai have finished all their 16 games.

Two wickets each by Praveen Kumar, Azhar Mahmood and Parvinder Awana helped Kings XI restrict Super Kings to a paltry total of 120 for seven and gain two crucial points.

Mandeep Singh (24) and Gilchrist gave their team a sprightly start, scoring 51 in six overs, before the Indian youngster got castled by Albie Morkel. In the absence of Shaun Marsh, Punjab’s batting line-up looked thin in star power. Nitin Saini (1) and David Hussey (9) put their team in a spot of bother by getting out in quick succession.

Gilchrist, however, held his end up, hitting out aggressively. He exploded towards the end, scoring 22 runs of Yo Mahesh’s 15th over and that sealed the win for Punjab.

Put in on a pitch with a greenish tinge, defending champions Chennai lost Murali Vijay (10) and Michael Hussey (7) without much on the board. Suresh Raina, who is the only player yet to miss a match in the IPL, smacked Mahmood for two sixes. However, he fell caught behind in the same over while slashing at a wide ball.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who promoted himself up the order, again played a lacklustre innings scoring six off 16 balls.

West Indian Dwayne Bravo came to the rescue of Super Kings when his team was reeling at 46 for four in the 11th over. He played a watchful innings of 48 off 43 balls, stringing small partnerships with Ravindra Jadeja (13) and Morkel (14) as Chennai stuttered to a below par score.

Source: Yahoo Cricket

With Chennai Super Kings needing five runs to win off the final delivery, Rajat Bhatia, who had bowled MS Dhoni and conceded only four from the previous five balls, bowled a full toss. Dwayne Bravo, who had missed a heave off the fifth ball, heaved again, and this time he hit the ball high into the night sky. Kolkata Knight Riders’ captain Gautam Gambhir, fielding in the circle, kept his eyes fixed on the ball as it began its descent, and grimaced as he watched it fall agonisingly out of reach of his fielder at long-on, and just over the boundary. The Super Kings were out of the dug out, craning their necks to see where the ball landed, and once they saw it was a match-winning six, there were several streaks of yellow speeding to embrace Bravo, who stood with arms aloft having kept his team alive in the IPL.

Had the match been tied, it would have been less of a surprise, for Super Kings’ chase had followed a pattern eerily similar to Knight Riders’ first innings.

In pursuit of 159, Michael Hussey and M Vijay added 97 runs in 10.1 overs before Sunil Narine, who continued to confound batsmen with his variations during his spell of 4-0-14-2, dismissed both of them in the space of three balls. Hussey had demonstrated impeccable timing on a pitch that demanded application, hitting four sixes in a half-century that threatened to make short work of the chase, before he top-edged a sweep. Vijay was bowled trying to cut a straight one.

When Knight Riders had been sent in after losing the toss, Gambhir and Brendon McCullum had set off at breakneck speed, adding 99 in 11.2 overs before they were dismissed in the space of five deliveries. Gambhir had continued his prolific scoring streak, taking charge of accelerating his team’s innings while McCullum played second fiddle, relatively speaking. They were setting Knight Riders for a formidable total when McCullum was run-out and Gambhir was bowled after the ball came off his inside edge and pad, gone for 62 off 43 balls.

With the Knight Riders openers gone and two new batsmen at the crease, Super Kings began to drag the run-rate back, by striking regularly. The hosts slipped from 99 for 0 to 128 for 5. Jacques Kallis was unlucky to be given caught behind while sweeping, because the ball came off the arm, and Yusuf Pathan hit his customary solitary six before holing out to Bravo on the long-on boundary. Bravo caught Manoj Tiwary there soon after and Knight Riders were eventually kept to 158.

Super Kings went down the same path. After the Hussey-Vijay stand, they were slowed down and then lost Suresh Raina to a run out in the 14th over. MS Dhoni played out four consecutive dot balls against L Balaji as the gap between runs required and balls remaining began to grow. Balaji conceded two runs off the 14th over, and Bhatia five in the next. Super Kings now needed 44 off 30 balls.

After the 17th over of the first innings, Knight Riders had been 127 for 4. After the 17th over of the chase, Super Kings were 127 for 3. They lost Faf du Plessis to the first ball of the 18th. With 27 needed off the last two overs, Dhoni changed the course of the chase. He nearly beheaded Marchant de Lange, such was the ferocity with which he clubbed the first ball to the straight boundary. The next was a full toss that disappeared through deep midwicket and the third was a towering six over long-on.

Super Kings were favourites, needing only nine to get off the final over, but Dhoni was bowled off its second ball, missing Bhatia’s slower ball. Bhatia went on to bowl three more exceptional deliveries, but his last was the full toss that allowed Super Kings to move to No. 4 in the league.

George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo

Chasing 115-run target, Chennai Super Kings lost Michael Hussey (38) after he put on a 75-run opening stand with Murali Vijay against Delhi Daredevils in a crucial Indian Premier League match at the MA Chidambaram stadium on Saturday.

Irfan Pathan struck in the eleventh over to give Delhi a crucial breakthrough but it seem too little too late. Hussey hit a six and five boundaries in his quick 32-ball innings as he laid a solid platform for the hosts to win the match comfortably.

Hussey and Vijay helped Chennai raced to fifty in just 6.3 overs against Delhi.

Electing to bowl, pacer Ben Hilfenhaus (3-27) led a discipline Chennai attack to restrict Delhi to 114/5.

Yogesh Nagar top-score for the visitors with unbeaten 43 off 47 balls which included a six and a four in his patient knock. Irafan Pathan remained unbeaten on 13 off 17 balls.

For Chennai, Albie Morkel (1-15) and Ravichandran Ashwin (1-17) took a wicket each as they supported the red-hot Hilfenhaus perfectly.

Delhi lost Venugopal Rao (26) after he tried to revive their innings with Nagar. Ashwin dismissed Rao in the fourteenth over to break the 48-run fifth wicket partnership between Rao and Nagar. Rao hit two sixes in his quick 24-ball innings.

Sent in to bat, Delhi lost four top-order batsmen inside six overs to give upper hand to hosts Chennai.

Albie Morkel dismissed Mahela Jayawardene (8) in the sixth over to reduce Delhi to 24/4 in 5.2 overs.

Delhi lost Jayawardene soon after Naman Ojha (3) became the third victim of Chennai pacer Ben Hilfenhaus three balls earlier.

Table-toppers Delhi started their innings on the wrong foot as they lost David Warner (8) and skipper Virender Sehwag (4) inside three overs.

Hilfenhaus continue his good outing in the league as he dismissed Warner in his second over to reduce Delhi to 12/2 in 2.1 overs. Warner hit a four in his short 9 balls stay but he failed to carry on with his century-making form in the last game against Deccan Chargers.

The Aussie pacer Hilfenhaus gave hosts Chennai a perfect start when he got better of Sehwag in the very first over of the match.

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

Chennai bring in spinner Shadab Jakati in the playing eleven replacing pacer Yo Mahesh.

Delhi made two changes in the team as Roelf van der Merwe replaced Andre Russell and Umesh Yadav returned in the place of Shahbaz Nadeem.

Teams:

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

Delhi Daredevils: Virender Sehwag (capt), Mahela Jayawardene, Irfan Pathan, Umesh Yadav, Naman Ojha (wk), Venugopal Rao, Yogesh Nagar, Morne Morkel, Roelf van der Merwe, Varun Aaron, David Warner.

Source: Times of India

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

Mumbai Indians beat Chennai Super Kings by 2 wickets in yet, another thriller ending match. The tension prevailed till the last ball of the match. Dwayne Smith, was the person who completed the chase by hitting a six and 2 boundaries in the last 3 balls and lead the Mumbai Indians to victory.

Mumbai Indians, after losing the early wicket of James Franklin for just a score of 8 runs, Sachin Tendulkar, and Rohit Sharma had a good partnership and added 126runs. At a individual score of 74 runs in 44 balls, with 11 boundaries and a six, Tendulkar was caught in Ashwin’s balling. After his wicket, MI’s lost their next 6 wickets in no more. There were 4 duck-outs. It almost seemed as the Chennai Super Kings were winning, the Dwayne Smith hit a fabulous six and 2 boundaries in the last three balls, and showed the path of victory to Mumbai Indians.

Earlier, during the Chennai Super Kings innings, opener Murali Vijay gave a good start by scoring 41 in 29balls with 4 boundaries and 3 sixers. However, Faf du Plessis was out for just 9 runs. After these 2 wickets, Suresh Raina, and Dwayne Bravo made some quick runs and had a partnership of 62runs. The skipper Dhoni scored 25 runs with 2 boundaries, and a six. After them, none of the batsmen could only make single digit scores. They could make 173runs for 8 wickets. RP Singh, and Malinga took 3 wickets each.

Teams

Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni, Murali Vijay, Faf du Plessis, Suresh Raina, Dwayne Bravo, Albie Morkel, Ravindra Jadeja, Subramaniam Badrinath, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ben Hilfenhaus, Shadab Jakati

Mumbai Indians: Harbhajan Singh, James Franklin, Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, Ambati Rayudu, Dwayne Smith, Robin Peterson, Lasith Malinga, RP Singh, Munaf Patel

Their batsmen did not set Chepauk alight, nor did their bowlers destroy the opposition, but Chennai Super Kings fought hard on a demanding pitch to earn a victory that helped them claw back into the league’s top half. Their top-order made nugget-sized but swift contributions that ensured Super Kings reached a competitive target despite an end-over slowdown, after which their bowlers prevented Cameron White’s solitary straining at the reins from saving the night for Deccan Chargers. It was a gritty, unspectacular win, but one that ensured they did not drop points against the IPL’s bottom-placed team.

The turnaround for Super Kings, however, came via a stroke of luck. White and Shikhar Dhawan had kept Chargers on course by reaching 77 for 1 in the 11th over, when White drove the ball hard at Dwayne Bravo, the bowler. The ball thudded into Bravo’s hand and deflected a long way on to the stumps, catching Dhawan backing-up much too far. There was no luck involved in Kumar Sangakkara’s dismissal, though, when Suresh Raina lunged to his right to grab a firm drive with the fingertips of his outstretched hand. Daniel Christian took time to settle in and Chargers scored only 26 between overs 11 and 15 for the loss of two wickets. They needed 59 off the final five and run scoring was significantly harder as the ball got older.

Two more economical overs drove the equation up to 47 off 18 balls, when White swung Ravindra Jadeja far over long-on and long-off, and then through backward square leg, to give Chargers hope. With 27 needed off 10 deliveries, though, Jadeja’s accurate throw to Dhoni from the deep ran out White for 77, snuffing out Chargers’ last hope. Perhaps the most relieved man on the field was Albie Morkel, who had dropped White first ball.

Chargers had themselves to blame for their seventh defeat in ten matches. Their fielding has been shocking through the tournament and today’s performance was typical. Amit Mishra dropped Faf du Plessis on 10; he went on to top-score for Super Kings with 42. In the final over, Ankit Sharma and Parthiv Patel failed to call for a catch off Bravo and conceded two runs off that delivery. The next ball went for six and the last two for two each. In a format of small margins, Chargers were generous once again. They could have been chasing 140 instead of 160.

At one stage, however, Super Kings’ top order was building a platform for 180. M Vijay, who opened because Michael Hussey was replaced by Ben Hilfenhaus, flung his bat around before he was caught early, but there were brisk partnerships between the rest. Raina and du Plessis added 64 in 7.2 overs, the highlight being Raina, who took six balls to score, pulling and hooking Veer Pratap Singh for consecutive sixes.

In the end, the acceleration did not come. After scoring at a healthy clip for the majority of their innings, and despite sending the strongest in their arsenal upfront, Super Kings did not find that end-over propulsion. In fact, they slowed down: having made 118 for 3 in 14 overs, Super Kings scored only 42 off the final six, but it was ten too many for Chargers.

George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo

Gautam Gambhir slammed fine fifty to guide Kolkata Knight Riders to a comfortable five-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings in the IPL 5 match at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Monday.

Gambhir’s dream run in the ongoing Indian Premium League continued as he slammed a quickfire 43-ball fifty with the help of four boundaries and a six. Gambhir’s fine innings came to an end in the 18th over when he was dismissed by Chennai’s Dwayne Bravo.

CSK’s Dwayne Bravo broke the 70-run second wicket stand between Jacques Kallis and Gautam Gambhir. Bravo removed Kallis to give Chennai much-needed breakthrough when the batsman was caught behind the wickets by skipper MS Dhoni.

Gambhir and Kallis take Kolkata Knight Riders past 50 runs after losing Brendon McCullum early against Chennai. The duo also reached to their 50 runs stand in 38 balls to steady Knight Riders’ chase.

Chennai’s Ravichandran Ashwin struck to dismiss Brendon McCullum and give Kolkata Knight Riders early blow in chase of 140.

Earlier, Kolkata Knight Riders produced a superb bowling display to restrict Chennai Super Kings to 139/5.

Skipper Dhoni 34 off 30 balls and Albie Morkel 13 off 8 balls remained unbeaten at the crease. The duo added 21 runs in 2 overs to take Chennai to a modest total.

Jacques Kallis claimed two wickets while Brett Lee and Sunil Narine took wicket apiece to stutter Chennai.

Jacques Kallis dismissed Dwayne Bravo and Suresh Raina in quick succession to leave Chennai Super Kings tottering at 88/4 in 13 overs.

Raina was in good touch, making 44 off 34 balls with the help of four fours and a six. Chennai Super Kings stuttered in the innings as they lost wickets at regular intervals.

Dwayne Bravo was the third man to go when Iqbal Abdulla took the simple catch at long-on off Jacques Kallis.

Bravo and Suresh Raina added 42-run stand for the third wicket to steady Chennai innings after suffering the dismissals of the openers.

Chennai lost their second wicket in the form of David Hussey when he got run out in a mix up with Suresh Raina. Brett Lee struck in his first over to remove Faf du Plessis cheaply.

Du Plessis failed to continue his good run as he scored three runs before going back to the pavilion.

Earlier, Chennai skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and opted to bat against Kolkata in the 41st of the tournament.

Chennai got the big boost as Michael Hussey is back into the team, replacing Wriddhiman Saha. Yo Mahesh also included in place Nuwan Kulasekara.

Kolkata decided to retain the same playing eleven that thrashed Royal Challengers Bangalore by 47 runs.

Teams:

Chennai Super Kings: Faf du Plessis, Subramaniam Badrinath, Michael Hussey, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni, Dwayne Bravo, Albie Morkel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shadab Jakati, Yo Mahesh

Kolkata Knight Riders: Brendon McCullum, Gautam Gambhir, Jacques Kallis, Yusuf Pathan, Manoj Tiwary, Debabrata Das, Laxmi Shukla, Brett Lee, Rajat Bhatia, Sunil Narine, Iqbal Abdulla

Source: Times of India

Kings XI Punjab were disconsolate after their previous match, when they leaked 32 runs in the final two overs of the chase to gift victory to Mumbai Indians. Three days later, they were faced with the same situation, but this time there were no goof-ups as they upset Chennai Super Kings and silenced the crowd at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.

Punjab seemed to have scored too little after choosing to bat first, ending on 156 after 20-year-old opener Mandeep Singh made his first half-century of the season. They lost 6 for 27 towards the end of the innings, which meant there was no late flourish, leaving Chennai the happier side at the halfway stage.

When Faf du Plessis confidently strode down the track to hammer Punjab’s quick bowlers, Chennai were galloping along at nine an over. With Chennai possessing a line-up that had hitters down to No. 10, the game was slipping away but Punjab didn’t lose faith. They caused a Chennai collapse to match their own – 5 for 38 – to scrap their way back into the game.

Of Piyush Chawla’s IPL performances this season, most people only remember the caning he received at the hands of Robin Peterson and Ambati Rayudu, but he has also been one of the most economical bowlers of the tournament.

He showed that the Mumbai mauling was an aberration, with a superb spell in the middle that put the brakes on Chennai. He had Suresh Raina stumped, getting a delivery to slant past the outside edge, and then had Ravindra Jadeja slicing to cover to finish with 4-0-20-2.

Still, Chennai had two power-hitters, Dwayne Bravo and Albie Morkel, in the middle after 15 overs, and the target was 58 away, certainly not beyond their reach. Both had choked Punjab with the ball, and were now seemingly ready to finish the job with the bat.

Azhar Mahmood then showed off his Twenty20 experience, bowling a mix of slower balls and yorkers in the 16th over to stifle Chennai. Praveen Kumar followed up with a series of low full tosses, which also proved hard to put away. Parvinder Awana, the least experienced of the lot, also kept his cool, regularly find the blockhole and following the batsmen as they backed away.

With 32 needed off the final two overs, Praveen stuck to the low-full-toss strategy, and though Bravo smacked a straight six, he holed out three deliveries later. An inside-edge for four brought it down to 17 off the last over, with Mahmood given the responsibility of bowling it. He was spot-on, dismissing Morkel first ball and dishing out the yorkers.

Chennai were nearly out of it, with 11 needed off two deliveries. The batsman Nuwan Kulasekara then backed away from the stumps, Mahmood followed him but Kulasekara shuffled across towards off and the ball went down leg to the keeper. They scrambled a run, and expected a wide to be signalled. There wasn’t one, though, much to Chennai’s consternation. R Ashwin had a heated argument with Praveen Kumar, but there was no change in the umpire’s decision, and the game was finally Punjab’s.

Mahmood had been instrumental to changing the game earlier on as well, removing both set openers, du Plessis and S Badrinath. MS Dhoni promoted both Jadeja and Wriddhiman Saha ahead of himself, but neither could make an impact. Dhoni himself was run-out in 14th over, charging out after under-edging a ball and not realising it was right next to the keeper. With Chennai at 88 for 5, not only had Punjab fought back, they were ahead.

It hadn’t seemed that they would topple Chennai when they wasted the start provided by Mandeep, who wilted under the heat and humidity of the afternoon. He had begun well, avoiding the slogs and heaves that are integral to Twenty20, and favouring inside-out drives to provide the initial acceleration. He faded, though, managing only one boundary in the 11 overs after the Powerplay.

Punjab’s captain, David Hussey, also decided to demote himself, sending Mahmood and David Miller ahead of him, another move that didn’t work. That left Hussey only four overs to bat at the end, and needing to swing from ball one, he failed. Punjab seemingly ended well short of a total to challenge Chennai, but their bowlers got it right to pull off an unlikely victory.

Siddarth Ravindran is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

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