Rajasthan Royals thrashed Chennai Super Kings by 8 wickets to lead the table with 1 points, winning 5 of their 6 matches.
Winning the toss and deciding to bat first, I was surprised by Dhoni's decision. With the good batting line up, they could chase any target. Not sure why he decided to bat first. In the pressure to add runs and set a huge target, if they lose wickets as they did with Delhi and also in this match, they would be out of this tournament very soon.
Chennai lost the first four wickets before the power play. Sohail Tanvir, who bowled the best figures in the T20 today against Chennai, picked 6 wickets. His record figures were 4-0-14-6. In his first three overs, he gave away just 3 runs, but taking 3 wickets.
Patel and Fleming trapped leg before in the first over itself for duck. That really put Chennai on the back foot. Vidyut was caught by Warne for 5. Badrinath trying to improve the score, pulled the ball, but didn't time it well and ended up giving an easy caught and bowl to Watson for 15.
Dhoni was well deceived by Warne. The ball pitched on the middle and made Dhoni play the drive. The ball turning well took the edge and flew to slip where Smith took a good catch to send skipper Dhoni to pavilion for 1.
At the end of 8th over Chennai were 46 for 5. Morkel and Raina stayed in the crease for few more overs. Realizing that runs are important, Morkel took chances against Warne and hit him 17 runs that included 2 fours and a six.
In the 15th over, Raina's sent the ball in the air and Tanvir took a good judging catch of Patel. He scored 27 off 27 balls with 2 fours. In the same over, Joginder played irresponsible shot to get himself out for a duck, caught by Tanvir again.
At the end of 15 overs, Chennai were 91 for 7, not sure whether they would touch the three figure mark.
Morkel was the lone fighter on the field. He scored 42 and got out in the 17th over first ball, bowled by Sohail Tanvir, giving him his 4th wicket. Muralitharan was bowled in the next two deliveries.
End of over 17, Chennai were 97 for 8 with Nitni and Gony at the crease. Two fours by Nitni of Tanvir took the score past 100. In the same over, Nitni was bowled by Tanvir taking his 6th wicket--a record.
Chasing 110 in 20 overs is not a difficult task. Any team would do that 99 times out of 100. It is not different for Rajasthan Royals who reached this score at the last of 2 wickets.
Nitni started off with the maiden. Though Smith was dropped by at mid on by Joginder of Nitni when he was on 6, no one was able to stop them from reaching the target.
At the end of 10 overs, they were 78 for no loss, requiring 32 in 10 overs. Vidyut took the first wicket to send Asnodkar caught by Nitni for 32 off 30 balls with 5 fours. Yousuf Pathan was sent as usual, but this time to finish the game faste. He hit a six of Vidyut over mid wicket.
He was out off Muralitharan caught by Raina at short fine leg. At the end of 12th over, Rajasthan needed 18 in 8 overs.
Watson hit a six and four of Vidyut in the 13th over and six required off 7 overs and those were scored in the next two overs.
Undoubtedly, Sohail Tanvir was declared man of the match for his wonderful bowling performance of 4-0-14-6 and taking two catches.
With this victory, Rajasthan leading the table with 10 points, with most wins--5, than any other team out of the 6 games played.
Match 24
Venue: Jaipur
Date: May 4, 2008
Teams: Rajsthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings
Captains: Shane Warne and Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Toss: Chennai Super Kings and decided to bat
Result: Rajsthan Royals won by 8 wickets with 34 balls remaining
Man of the Match: Sohail Tanvir off Rajsthan Royals (South Africa)
Points: Rajsthan Royals-2; Chennai Super Kings-0
Score:
Chennai Super Kings 162 for 8 in 20 overs (PA Patel 0, SP Fleming 0, S Vidyut 5, SK Raina 27, S Badrinath 15, MS Dhoni 1, JA Morkel 42, Joginder Sharma 0, M Gony 1 not out, M Muralitharan 0, M Ntini 11, Extras—7 (b 4, lb 1, wide 2), Sohail Tanvir 4-0-14-6, SR Watson 4-0-19-1, MM Patel 4-0-16-2, SK Trivedi 2-0-17-0, SK Warne 3-0-29-1, YK Pathan 2-0-9-0) lost to Rajsthan Royals 110 for 2 in 14.2 overs (GC Smith 35 not out, SA Asnodkar 32, YK Pathan 8, SR Watson 14 not out, Extras-21 (lb 6, wide 14, nb 1), M Ntini 3-1-17-0, M Gony 3-0-25-0, JA Morkel 1-0-10-0, M Muralitharan 4-0-20-1, SK Raina 1.2-0-10-0, S Vidyut 2-0-22-1)
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