Chennai's winning spree continues!

Chennai Super Kings Vs Rajasthan Royals - Match 37 - De Beers Diamond Oval, Kimberly

Chennai Super Kings's dream run in the latter part of the IPL continued with yet another victory over the champs Rajasthan Royals. Rajasthan Royals didn't get the start they want as they lost N Ojha in the third ball of the Royal's innings, but Asnodkar and Smith added 53 runs before Murali trapped Asnodkar plum in front of the wickets for a well made 26. Smith(30 of 33 balls) was foxed by a Murali delivery and a smart piece of glovework from Dhoni sent Smith back to the pavillion. The spinners along with Balaji kept a tight leash on the Rajasthan scoring rate. The batsmen tried to increase the run rate only to find themself playing a poor shot and getting out. Ravindra Jadeja(27 of 19 balls) looked dangerous after the strategic break but was removed by Balaji, thanks to a stunner of a catch from Raina. Shane Warne's final assault of 21 from 11 balls helped Rajasthan reach a score of 140, a very defendable target on a pitch which kept low and made stroke play difficult.

Chennai's chase had some initial hiccups with Murali Vijay departing after scoring just 10 runs and Raina depearting after making 13 runs. With the scoreboard reading 37/2, Badrinath joined Hayden at the crease and this partnership took chennai through. Hayden made a solid 48 from 44 balls and Badri compiled a beautiful half century, an effort which earned him the Man of the Match award. Warne got the consolation wicket of Hayden when the Chennai score read 126, but it was too little too late as Badri took Chennai home with 10 balls to spare.

Toss

Rajasthan Royals won the toss and chose to bat first

Brief Scores

Rajasthan Royals - 140/7 in 20 overs(G Smith - 30, R Jadeja - 27, M Muralitharan - 2/22, S Jakati - 2/35)

Chennai Super Kings - 141/3 in 18.2 overs(S Badrinath - 59*, M Hayden - 48, S Trivedi - 1/23, A Singh - 1/25)

Result

Chennai Super Kings won the match by 7 wickets