Rajasthan Royals beat Super Kings

By IANS,

Chennai : Fighting to confirm a semi-final berth, Chennai Super Kings crashed to a 10-run defeat against Rajasthan Royals in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match here Saturday.


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The defeat, their sixth in 13 matches, left Super Kings with 14 points with a game in hand against Deccan Chargers next week, while Royals, leading the IPL tally, notched up their 10th win in 12 outings.

Batting first on winning the toss, Royals made 211 for five with Graeme Smith (91), Swapnil Asnodkar (41) and Kamran Akmal (53 not out) doing the bulk of scoring. Super Kings came close to overhauling the target thanks to Parthiv Patel (54), Suresh Raina (45) and Albie Morkel (71), but ran out of steam at the finish.

When the chase began, Royals skipper Shane Warne had off-spinner Yusuf Pathan sharing the new ball with Sohail Tanvir and Super Kings openers Stephen Fleming and Patel went for cheap runs.

After Fleming’s departure, Raina joined Patel and the two had an entertaining stand of 70 in 41 balls to provide momentum to the Super Kings chase.

Raina, in particular, wasted no opportunity to open his shoulders and belted the bowlers around the park to close in on his half-century. However, Warne tricked him into a shot that Kaif caught with the score on 82 in the ninth over.

The stage was set for Morkel and he did not disappoint the capacity crowd with some of the biggest hits seen at the ground. He was fortunate to escape stumping off Warne when on six as Akmal failed to gather.

Meanwhile, Patel batted steadily at the other end, lending Morkel excellent support to get to his half-century but was easily stumped by Akmal as he tried to charge Warne to leave Super Kings on 157 for three after 15 overs.

With his team needing 55 runs in five overs, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni joined Morkel who went on to complete his half-century off just 26 deliveries with three sixes and five boundaries.

Dhoni fell to Tanvir in the 18th over lofting straight to Kaif at mid-off and Royals yet again looked to be in control with the hosts needing 30 runs off 14.

Badrinath lasted two deliveries, as he lifted Munaf to midwicket where Kohli took a brilliant running catch. At the end of 19 overs, Super Kings needed 15 runs.

Tanvir, bowling the last over, dismissed Morkel and Abhinav Mukund off successive deliveries to finish with three for 33 and leave Royals deserving winners.

Earlier, Smith and Asnodkar laid the foundation for the huge total with their stand of 127-run for the first wicket while Super Kings bowlers toiled hard in trying conditions.

Royals had an enviable start with both Smith and Asnodkar in a punishing mood. Runs flowed from either end as the Super Kings bowlers erred in line and length.

A desperate skipper Dhoni shuffled his bowlers around in a bid to break the partnership, but nothing worked.

Akmal who came after Asnodakar’s fall played some big shots and batted till end to help Royals put a mammoth target.

Royals made as many as four changes, resting all-rounder Shane Watson, wicketkeeper Mahesh Rawat, seamer Siddharth Trivedi and left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja, while Abhinav Mukund replaced Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan in the Super Kings line-up.

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