IPL: Rajasthan Royals v/s Chennai Super Kings: Chennai win a cliffhanger by 7 runs

Welcome to the league game between Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings at Dubai

Rajasthan Royals have won the toss and they will bowl first. 

Tim Southee is in for Kane Richardson who is ill. Shane Watson will be hoping to have a bowl today, he has been out of bowling action with a sore back.

Head to Head - Played 14 (CSK 8-6 RR) CSK hold the edge

Last 5 T20s

RR- LWLWW
CSK- WLLLW 

Teams:

Chennai Super Kings- B.McCullum, D. Smith, S. Raina, F. DuPlesis, M.S. Dhoni (c/wk), M. Manas, R. Jadeja, R. Ashwin, B. Hilfenhaus, I. Pandey, M. Sharma

Rajasthan Royals: A. Rahane, S. Samson (wk), S. Watson (c), S. Binny, S. Smith, A. Nayar,J. Faulker, R. Bhatia, T. Southee, D. Kulkarni, P. Tambe 

PLAY !
Chennai 5/0 after 1 over 

Tim Southee comes in to bowl

An eventful over from Tim Southee, and just 3 runs from it. Chennai 8/0 after 2 overs

Edge and that flies towards the third man, for a single

SIX, stand and deliver, Faulker serves full ball and Smith cleanly hits over long on

Faulker has the best bowling strike rate in IPL of 14.51, next is D. Kulkarni of 14.90, so Rajasthan have got both of them today (Data Since 2011 IPL)

Kulkarni gives away just two runs, that is excellent bowling

Excellent captaincy from Watson, he is rotating the bowlers and giving no chance to CSK openers to settle for a particular bowler and have a go

CSK 20/0 (4) Smith 17*- McCullum 3*

Change of ends for Southee

SIX, brutal from Smith, picks up the ball from the pads and whacks it over long-on for a maximum

FOUR, cracking shot from Smith, full and outside off from Southee, Smith whips away to point

Smith has a better record when chasing, first innings average 27 second innings average is 46

OUT, what a catch from Steven Smith, short ball from Faulker, McCullum tries to pull gets a leading edge, Smith dives forward at mid-on to take that one, simple outstanding

Raina is the new batsman

FOUR X 4 -SMITH PUMMELS FAULKER ! That's 4- four from the over, Faulker after taking a wicket has been hammered by Smith, first towards leg side, then third man and then twice at long off, can't believe that a wicket had fallen in this over and that's 50 runs for CSK

19 runs and a wicket from that over

CSK 51/1 (6) Smith 44*- Raina 0*

Tambe comes in for damage control and gives away just two runs in the over, good tight bowling

SIX, SLAMMED OVER DEEP-MIDWICKET ! Short stuff from Binny, Smith powerfully hits it towards deep-midwicket

OUT, Revenge Avenged ! slower ball back of a length, Smith looking to steer it over midwicket, but gets a top edge towards mid-off, Watson takes the catch.

In comes the dangerous Bhatia and his slower deliveries

OUT, straightaway makes an impact with his trademark slower delivery, Raina looking to cut that one hard, goes towards short-third man, where Kulkarni dives forward to take a good catch

Strategic Time Out

Captain MSD comes in to bat

Another slower one, Bhatia is very intelligent in mixing up his slower one's with pace.

Great over from Bhatia, just 3 runs and a wicket

Dhoni's strike rate paces up as he faces more and more deliveries
1-10 balls- strike-rate is 140 - 30 plus balls- strike-rate is 234

CSK half-way through 71/3 (10) DuPlesis 7*- Dhoni 3*

Tambe has just gives 7 runs in his two over, again doing really well with the ball

RUN-OUT, Oh-no, Dhoni punches the ball towards Bhatia, who tries to take a catch but only gets his finger-tips to it, and the ball hits the stumps, DuPlesis was out of his crease, unfortunate for him

SIR JADEJA NOW !

Bhatia bowls another good over, only conceeding 3 runs and a run-out, just wondering why this player doesn't play for Team India.

OUT, BIG WICKET ! DHONI IS GONE- Dhoni comes down the track and hits straight to deep square leg, that was hit hard but finds the fielder, Tambe gets a big one

CSK are reeling

FOUR, oh poor line, after taking a wicket, don't expect him to bowl there, on leg side, Jadeja works it fine for four

Jadeja's last 5 inning scores- 7, 0, 0, 3, 2

Raina has scored 487 runs against Rajasthan Royals, the most by any batsman in IPL

Just 4 runs from Bhatia, who used 3 slower deliveries in his over, how often he is using his cutter to disguise the batsman, surprsingly no-one has been able to read him very well, and he gets a wicket most of the time with his cutters

Tambe into his last over

FOUR, inside out over covers, good hit from Manhas

FOUR-WIDE BALL ! Tambe loses his line and hurls a quicker one well outside leg stump, keeper fails to stop, welcome runs for CSK 

Tambe completes his spell 4-0-27-1

Bhatia to bowl last over of an excellent spell

That's 100 for CSK in 14.1 overs

OUT, ANOTHER SLOWER ONE! Bhatia gets another wicket, poor delivery fetches him a wicket, short and wide, Manhas tries to cut but hits it straight to the point fielder

Excellent spell from Rajat Bhatia comes to an end 4-0-13-2

In 3 games, Bhatia has an average of 18.25 and an economy of 6.63

CSK 101/6 (15) Jadeja 13*- Ashwin 0

5 overs to go, how much can CSK score? Jadeja still out there in in the middle

Watson comes onto ball, his first over in IPL 7

Gives away just 4 runs, RR have squeezed the runs for CSK

FOUR, Nice shot from SIR< shortish from Kulkarni, Jadeja goes back and pulls towards mid-wicket boundary, a much needed boundary for CSK, they need more now

Chennai are scoring at a run-rate of 6.90. 

Rajasthan have kept it really tight, 43 dot balls have been bowled till now

Another excellent over comes to an end from Tim Southee

Just giving 3 runs from it, Ashwin had no answer to Southee's pace

CSK 120/6 (18) Jadeja 25*- Ashwin 3*

FOUR, boundary comes after a long time, that too in an unconvincing manner, but CSK will take it, Ashwin tries to drive Faulker, instead gets an edge and ball runs away towards the third man boundary

Tim Southee to bowl the last over

Good length deliver, full outisde off, Jadeja thinks its wide, however umpire thinks it otherwise, no run

Length ball, Jadeja smacks it but can only get a single there

No boundaries, singles and doubles take Chennai to a score of 140/6 in 20 overs

Excellent bowling from Rajasthan to restrict Chennai at 140, earlier Dwayne Smith gave a flying start to CSK where it looked like they will score aroun 170-180 with the kind of batting line up they had, but the middle-order failed to capitalize. Credits to Rajasthan bowlers and especially Rajat Bhatia's slower one's cramped the CSK batsmen, just 10 fours and 3 sixes came in the innings.

Dwayne Smith scored 50 runs rest of the Chennai batsmen scored 77 runs and 13 extras

Jadeja's 36 runs in 33 balls tells the story. Bhatia and Tambe once again did very well to stop the flow of runs and also pick up wickets.

So, Rajasthan needs 141 runs at a run-rate of 7.25

Join us for a chase in few minutes

Rajasthan begins the chase !

Rahane and Nayar to open while Hilfenhaus will bowl the first over

FOUR, SMACK ! Good start, on middle, Nayar whips it towards mid-wicket

FOUR, Rahane This Time- very wide from Hilfenhaus, Rahane cuts it towards third man

Good first over for Royals

Hilfenhaus struggles against the right-handers

Economy against right handers- 7.73 - against left handers 5.89

Ishawar Pandey to bowl the second over

RUN-OUT, poor from Nayar, he misses and ball hits the pad, there's an appeal from the bowler, Nayar scrambles outside his crease, McCullum is quick to thorw this one to Dhoni who removes the bails, good presence of mind from McCullum.

a wicket and a maiden

Sanju Samson comes at no. 3

Samson has a lot of talent but he struggles to play under pressure

1st innings average 30 - 2nd innings average 24

RR 13/1 (3) Samson 0*- Rahane 7*

Till now we haven't seen any catch drop, pretty unusual

FOUR, perfect timing, Rahane went back and punched it through point

Hilfenhaus continues, in his third over now

SIX, slower delivery, Samson picks it up and smashes it over the long-on boundary

SIX, INTO THE ORBIT ! a quikcer one this time, and dispatched it over the same side, it went miles

Dhoni immediately brings his best bowler

Ashwin now

OUT, and he delivers it for his team, Rahane goes for the slog sweep but holes out at deep square leg. Ashwin immediately gets a wicket

Rajasthan captain Shane Watson comes in

Neat over from Ashwin just one run and a wicket

RR 38/2 (6) Samson 16*- Watson 1*

Dhoni now introduces spin from both ends, Jadeja has a go now

SIX, HITS THAT ONE! comes down the track and hits it straight for a long six, and it stays hit

OUT, extra flight does the trick this time, Watson aiming for a similar shot, gets a leading edge that gains height more than distance and is caught at long-off

OUT, TWO IN TWO FOR SIR ! Samson looking to play it towards midwicket, gets a leading edge and ball goes staright to the bowler, Jadeja is on fire

Steven Smith comes to face the hat-trick ball

No run, good ball from Jadeja, fuller, Smith digs out

End of a very good over from SIR 

Dhoni throwing all aces now, Suresh Raina into the attack

Excellent, just three runs, spinner mounting the pressure on Rajasthan

RR 47/4 (8) Binny 2*- Smith 1*

Steve Smith is playing his 100th T-20 game today

Right-arm medium Mohit Sharma to bowl

1 run, that's 50 for Rajasthan in 8.1 overs, back of a length and punched away to sweeper

6 runs from the over

RR 53/4 (9) They require 88 runs from 66 balls

Strategic time out

CSK are into this game, led by Jadeja first with the bat and now with the ball. 

DHONI MISSES STUMPING CHANCE ! Raina beats Smith in flight, MSD jiggles 2-3 times, with Smith half way down the line, you don't see that often. Smith gets lucky on his 100th T-20 game

Another good over from Raina just 3 runs

RR 56/4 in 10 overs. Run Rate 5.60
Out of 60 deliveries 35 have been dot balls

OUT, Binny looking to break the shacklessmites the ball straight at long-off to DuPlesis

Rajasthan lose their fifth wicket and Mohit Sharma takes a wicket

Bhatia has been impressive with the ball, can he do something with the bat?

Last 5 overs, 23 runs and a wicket

Jadeja comes back

FOUR, FINALLY ! Smith creames it over the covers, after 6 overs we see a boundary

OUT, SIR STRIKES AGAIN ! Everything is going Jadeja's way, gets the dangerman Smith, who went to hit a back of a length delivery from Jadeja and DuPlesis is stationed at long-off just to take catches, he grabs another

Six down, Rajasthan in trouble

Faulkner is Royals last hope

FOUR, sliding down the leg from Pandey, Faulkner gets a slight touch, ball races away for four

OUT, Faulker is gone, he chases a wide delivery from Pandey, gets a thick edge

Rajasthan wickets falling like a pack of cards

Strategic Time Out

FOUR, short, Southee carts it towards deep square leg with ease

DROPPED ! we finally see one, oh DuPlesis has caught so many but he drops this one at slip

RR 84/7 (14) Southee 4*- Bhatia 5*

OUT, SIR ON A ROLL ! Quicker one, skids in and shatters Southee's off-stump. Jadeja takes his 4th wicket as Rajasthan lose their 8th wicket

CSK have only defended a score of 140 or less only 1 time in IPL

RR 92/8 (16) Bhatia 9*- Kulkarni 3*

RR require 49 runs from 24 balls

SIR to bowl his last over

SIX, BHATIA TAKES ON JADEJA ! Comes down the track and hammers it straight over bowlers head, into the sight-scree

FOUR, PULLED ! shortish and Bhatia pulls it with power.

Bhatia is not giving up, he spoils Jadeja's figures in the last over

But still, great spell from Sir- 4-0-33-4

Good over from Kulkarni, just 5 runs from it

RR require 29 runs from 12 balls

Match is not over yet, can Bhatia take Rajasthan home

OUT, Bhatia departs, Short and pacy from Hilfenhaus, Bhatia tries to pull, doesn't get any control, gets a top edge into the skies, Ashwin takes it at covers.

It should be all over for Rajasthan now

25 runs to win in the last over

SIX, Kulkarni gets this one, sets himself in a position and hits it over deep midwicket

RR require 15 runs in 3 balls

SIX, This is not over, Kulkarni taking on Ashwin here, carrom ball on leg stump, and he sends it over deep square leg boundary

It comes alive

RUN-OUT, oh, Kulkarni hits at long on and quickly turns back for second but Tambe at non-striker end is short.

That is all over, Chennai have won the game by 7 runs in a low scoring match.

Bhatia and Kulkarni gave some hope by hard hitting towards the end but could not win the game. Rajasthan never looked in the game, as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals, there was no solid partnership and no valuable contributions from the top-order or the middle order, after early wickets, Chennai cramped Rajasthan for runs, the required rate kept climbing and spinners created more pressure, with Jadeja creating a havoc,

Earlier, after a blistering cameo from Dwayne Smith for Chennai, they batted poorly, but somehow managed to get a score of 140, all thanks to Jadeja but Chennai bowl their hearts out and again the credit goes to Ravindra Jadeja

Ravindra Jadeja is the Man of the Match for 36 not out with the bat and taking 4 wickets with the ball

Final Score: Chennai Super Kings (140/6 Jadeja 36*- Bhatia 2/13) beat Rajasthan Royals (133 all out Kulkarni 28 not out- Jadeja 4/33) by 7 runs

Thank you all, this is Uzair Hasan Rizvi, have a good-night !