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Chennai Super Kings kept their IPL Season 4 perfect home record intact with a crushing 8 wicket win over the Rajasthan Royals at Chepauk on Wednesday. The Royals, batting first raced to 86 for no loss at the end of just 10 overs, but were restricted to just 61 runs on the back 10 as Chennai came into their own. Chasing an ordinary 148 to win on a turning track, Chennai showed the proper respect to Rajasthan's two main wicket-taking threats and treated all the rest with utter disdain. A partnership of 137 runs for the second wicket between Michael Hussey (79 from 55 balls, 8*4s, 1*6) and Suresh Raina (61 from 51 balls, 3*4s, 1*6) took the Super Kings home with 8 balls to spare.

Two genuine contenders for a top four finish, the Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings, collide in Chepauk on a hot Wednesday afternoon. Shane Warne won the toss and opted to make first use of what has traditionally been an exceptionally slow pitch. The conditions also dictated dropping in-form medium pacer Amit Singh for left-arm spinner Nayan Doshi. Chennai on the other hand named an unchanged eleven from the side that took the field against the Deccan Chargers at the weekend, continuing to field three front line spinners in R Ashwin, Shadab Jakati and Suraj Randiv.

Rajasthan's openers ensured that their team would receive that initial boost in their quest for top spot in the IPL table with an unbeaten half century partnership by the end of the seventh over. Shane Watson and Rahul Dravid started steadily, dealing in singles and twos but punished Doug Bollinger, who was a bit off the mark today. Morkel, who was the steadier of the two bowled one over too many in his opening spell and was taken to the boundary twice by Watson in his third over. Dravid, who is making a habit of silencing his T20 critics, matched Shane Watson boundary for boundary totally unafraid of hitting the lofted shots. They were neck and neck at the end of 7 overs, with both batsmen having played 21 deliveries and scoring in the early twentys at just better than a-run-a-ball.

The duo continued in the same vein, with Dravid increasingly becoming the aggressor, smashing three boundaries in an over twice, off Ashwin and Suraj Randiv. The pair took the score along to 86 for no loss at the end of 10 overs, but Shane Watson fell to a stunning ‘bowl and catch’ performance by Shadab Jakati on the first ball of the 11th over. Watson’s 32 came in 26 balls and the Aussie would have been bitterly disappointed as there was a big score in the offing.

Dravid continued playing well but Ashok Menaria and Johan Botha both fell cheaply to Ashwin and Jakati, respectively, making way for a big Ross Taylor finish. Jakati finished a brilliant spell ending with 2-22 from his 4 overs. Randiv struck in the 16th over with the big wicket of Dravid, who had played a brilliant innings of 66 from 51 balls. Dravid struck 10 boundaries in an innings that set the Royals up for a big finish as they stood at 118/4 after 16 overs.

Albie Morkel, who came back to bowl his last over, had different plans. The Protea struck twice in consecutive deliveries to remove Ajinkya Rahane and a well set Taylor to ensure Rajasthan never reached a score their first half effort deserved. Taylor's dismissal was the fall of a Kiwi caught by an Aussie, bowled by a South African in the Indian Premier League - a true indication of how the cash rich league has captured the imagination of the global cricketer.

Doug Bollinger followed up Albie Morkel with a sharp last over that ensured the Royals got to only a par total of 147/6 in 20 overs. Chennai bowled a very measured attack with their five main bowlers finishing the twenty overs amongst them. Jakati and Morkel took two wickets apiece while only Ashwin and Randiv suffered slightly dented figures. The Super Kings had done brilliantly to concede just 61 runs in the last 10 overs to keep the score down to a very manageable total. The entire innings produced only a single wide and one no ball, and the Royals would now have to depend on their captain’s strategic gymnastics to pull out a win here.

Stephen Fleming had said prior to the match that he wanted Chennai chasing 148. While the bowlers had worked that to perfection, their batting plans received a sudden jolt in the second over as Botha trapped Vijay in front of the stumps with the score at 8. Suresh Raina joined Michael Hussey at the crease and they substituted the need for boundaries by scoring good singles and twos. The first eight overs fetched Chennai 57 runs even though only 4 boundaries had been scored. The bowling during the powerplay was largely sensible, but with the risk factor eliminated early chances could not be created.

Raina and Hussey took forward the Chennai run chase intelligently. Both the southpaws were watchful against Botha and Warne, but kept the run rate going by scoring off the medium pacers. At the half way stage they were 73/1. Nayan Doshi’s second over, the 11th of the innings, was singled out for some special treatment. Suresh Raina started the massacre with a boundary on the second ball of the over. Hussey danced down the wicket to put one in the stands and Raina emulated Hussey on the last ball of the over to add 19 runs to Chennai's tota;. Consecutive boundaries in Stuart Binny’s first over brought up Hussey’s half century and Chennai needed just 39 to win from the last 7 overs. Raina soon passed the landmark too with a nudge towards long on. Warne brought himself on in the 15^th over but with the required rate being below 6 an over, it was only a matter of time before Chennai romped home.

With the match slipping away, Rajasthan needed some sort of inspiration to lift themselves, but it never arrived. two more boundaries from Hussey’s blade killed any chance of a contest. Trivedi, who had a pretty tough day, got the wicket of Raina (61) in the dying stages of the match, but it was too little too late for Rajasthan. A majestic pull from Hussey finished things off as Chennai maintained their 100 percent record at home, winning 5 out of 5.

With the win Chennai move to the third spot in the points table, tied on 12 points with Mumbai and Kolkata, both of whom have better net run rates. Rajasthan are just behind the lot on 11 points, but have to improve on their away form if they are to be competitive in the business end of the season.

Teams:

Rajasthan Royals: Shane Watson, Rahul Dravid, Johan Botha, Ashok Menaria, Ross Taylor, Ajinkya Rahane, Shane Warne (c), Nayan Doshi, Stuart Binny, Dishant Yagnik (wk), Siddharth Trivedi.

Chennai Super Kings: Murali Vijay, Michael Hussey, Subramaniam Badrinath, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Albie Morkel, Anirudha Srikanth, R Ashwin, Doug Bollinger, Shadab Jakati, Suraj Randiv.

Mini Scorecard:

Rajasthan Royals 147/6 (20 overs, 7.35rpo)
R Dravid 66 (51) S Jakati 2-22
S Watson 32 (26) A Morkel 2-24

Chennai Super Kings 149/2 (18.4 overs, 7.98rpo)
M Hussey 79* (55) J Both 1-22
S Raina 61 (51) S Trivedi 1-37

Chennai win by 8 wickets