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The Chennai Super Kings edged closer to a place in the IPL Season 4 play-offs with a comprehensive 63 thrashing of the Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur on Monday night. Fortress Jaipur, the inspirational home of the Royals for so many games crumbled under the assault of the Super Kings as they plundered 196 runs in their 20 overs with Murali Vijay scoring a half-century and Michael Hussey, Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni all scoring in the 40s. The selection of a brand new pitch might have provided plenty of entertainment to neutral fans, but completely derailed Rajasthan's approach as most of their wins have come courtesy of holding teams to under 150. The Royals as expected floundered in such a massive chase with only Ajinkya Rahane making a telling contribution.

Two shrewdest men ever to walk on a cricket field took on each other in game no. 52 of the Indian Premier League at the Sawai Man Singh stadium in Jaipur. While MS Dhoni was keen on improving the away record of the Chennai Super Kings, the outgoing Shane Warne wanted the picturesque stadium to remain his fortress a little while longer.

Warne won the toss and as expected invited Chennai to bat first. There were two changes for the home side. While Abhishek Raut and Amit Singh found a place in the playing eleven, Nayan Doshi and Stuart Binny were left out. For Chennai, Dwayne Bravo, who joined the team after playing against Pakistan in the recent ODI series, was drafted into the side at the expense of Suraj Randiv.

Dhoni said at the toss that defending would be difficult on this ground and they would need a big score. Michael Hussey and Murali Viay walked out first for Chennai. Hussey was on the attack right from the word go. Poor deliveries from the Rajasthan bowlers were duly punished, while Hussey also made optimum use of timing and precision against good deliveries. Vijay started to open up in the 5^th over hitting Amit Singh over mid-on. In the same over Hussey slammed two more to the fence and the CSK run rate was hovering around 9.5. Johan Botha was brought on inside the powerplay overs to snap Chennai’s momentum but Hussey countered him by dancing down the track and ensured Chennai were off to a flyer with 55 runs being scored in the powerplay.

Warne brought himself into the attack just after the powerplay and was welcomed with a big hit over long on by Murali Vijay. Hussey too chipped Warne over midwicket and it seemed as if both openers were determined to hit Royals’ best bowler out of attack. Botha got the first breakthrough for the home side when Hussey (46) missed a slog and the ball made its way to the stumps, ending the association of 77 runs. Vijay, unperturbed by the downfall of Hussey at the other end, continued the onslaught. He slammed a flighted one from Botha straight over his head. Then he turned his attention to the medium pacer. First he blasted Watson for a boundary before bringing up his half century with a six over square leg off Siddharth Trivedi. Suresh Raina, who came in at the fall of Hussey, too looked in great touch. A beautiful drive through the covers in Watson’s second over was followed by two arrogant slaps in the same region, Trivedi and Singh suffering this time.

Against Warne too he was very assured of himself, hitting a boundary in the square leg region and a drive against the spin, much to the dismay of the Rajasthan skipper. With none of the Rajasthan’s bowlers threatening to pick up a wicket, a runout came to their rescue. Lazy running by Vijay (53) caused his downfall. But with the score on 136/2 and a plethora of big hitters to follow, the stage was perfectly set for some late innings mayhem.

Captain MS Dhoni joined Raina in the middle and wasted little time to settle down. He announced himself by sending Trivedi way into the crowd. Trivedi was due for some more punishment, a thick edge found its way to the fence before a slower ball was dismissed out of sight by Dhoni. Shane Watson too wasn’t spared as the Indian skipper hit him for a four and a six off consecutive balls.

Rajasthan managed to send Raina (43) back in the penultimate over but Dhoni’s (41*) frequent hits into the orbit didn’t allow the momentum to shift back to the home team. As many as 60 runs were scored in the last five overs as Chennai amassed a massive 196 in their allotted 20 overs, and in the process provided a massive cushion for their bowlers.

For Rajasthan, chasing almost 10 an over, a good start was crucial. Rahul Dravid top edged Albie Morkel and fortunately for him it evaded R Ashwin at third man and found the fence. An over eager Dwayne Bravo, playing his first IPL match for the Chennai Super Kings, missed the stumps while attempting a run out and ended up gifting 4 overthrows much to the delight of the home crowd. Dravid’s 20 run cameo soon came to an end when he edged an attempted pull and Dhoni made no mistake behind the stumps.

Talented youngster Ajinkya Rahane came out to the middle and played some delightful strokes. Back to back fours off Bravo’s first over got things rolling for him. Against Ashwin too he looked very accomplished as he swept one past short fine leg. Shane Watson (11) too got his first boundary in the same over before he got out top edging a slog sweep and Jakati took a juggling catch. Rajasthan were 48/2 at the end of 6 overs, a decent start but the loss of Watson perhaps too big a hurdle already.

Such a steep target was always going to be difficult and with Dravid and Watson back in the pavilion, the home side needed Ross Taylor to fire. But he disappointed, scoring just 6 off 8 balls before scooping a tame catch to Wriddhiman Saha. R Ashwin prized out another scalp in the next over, Ashok Menaria departed, edging one behind. At the halfway stage Rajasthan were looking down the barrel of a smoking gun, having made their way to 70/4.

Rahane, at the other end, carried on a lone battle. He used his feet to great effect against spinners. Even against Bravo’s slow medium he moved quickly to get into position and find the fence. An inside out hit to the boundary over the infield to Jakati got Rahane a well deserved half century off just 33 balls. However, he wasn’t able to carry on his good work for long. Soon after reaching the milestone, Suresh Raina displayed a brilliant piece of acrobatics to end the promising innings for 52.

With more than 16 an over required in the last 5 overs and not many wickets left, Rajasthan were always up against it. Abhishek Raut showed some stomach for a fight. A six off Bravo and a cheeky four down to third man brought some cheer for the Royals, but the target was always beyond him. Wickets fell at frequent intervals as Dhoni rotated his bowlers very well towards the end of the innings. Rajasthan were finally bundled out for 133 in the final over with the last 4 wickets falling in the space of 6 balls with the addition of just one run. Suresh Raina was a beneficiary of the late collapse, picking up 2 wickets in three ball for no runs!

With this win the defending champions Chennai Super Kings move up to 14 points and are just one victory away from confirming their place in the play offs. They next play Delhi Daredevils at home in 3 days time, where they have been undefeated so far this campaign. With 11 points from 11 matches, Rajasthan Royals have to raise their game significantly as they face RCB here next on Wednesday. It looks very likely that the battle for the final play-off spot will come down to these two teams, and the Royal Challengers are going to be very hard to beat with the introduction of Chris Gayle into their squad.

Teams:

CSK: M Hussey, M Vijay, S Raina, M Dhoni, A Morkel, S Badrinath, D Bravo, W Saha, R Ashwin, D Bollinger, S Jakati.

RR: S Watson, R Dravid, J Botha, A Menaria, R Taylor, A Rahane, A Raut, S Warne, D Yagnik, S Trivedi, A Singh.

Mini Scorecard:

Chennai Super Kings 196/3 ( 20 overs, runrate 9.8)

M Vijay 53 (40)                J Botha 1/23

M Hussey 46(30)              A Singh 1/40

Rajasthan Royals 133 allout ( 19.3 overs , run rate 6.82)

A Rahane 52 (36)            D Bollinger 3/22

R Dravid 20 (16)               S Raina 2/0

Chennai win by 63 runs

File Photograph Copyright: Michael Henn

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