Michael Hussey (79 n.o., 55b, 8x4, 1x6) and Suresh Raina (61, 51b, 3x4, 1x6) helped Chennai ease to an eight-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, here on Wednesday.
Coach Stephen Fleming had talked about his side having to scratch for wins at home, but the Hussey-Raina show (137 runs in 16.4 overs) ensured that Chennai's fifth home win in a row (to go with its fourth successive win overall) arrived with time to spare.
Rajasthan made 147 and its lack of bowling wherewithal meant that even the early loss of Murali Vijay did little to hamper Chennai's chase; the target was whittled down in 18.4 overs.
Hussey made his runs with characteristic finesse, the elegance not getting in the way of his strike rate, as the Australian import never let Rajasthan get within sniffing distance.
Hussey was especially severe on the part-timers — smashing the likes of Stuart Binny, Ashok Menaria and Nayan Doshi for 30 runs off 14 balls.
Raina pitched in with his usual brand of belligerence, as the duo achieved the double objective of keeping intact the side's proud home record while also boosting its net run rate, which might play a part later in the tournament.
Botha finished three of his overs during the mandatory Power Play and when the support cast (Siddharth Trivedi, Doshi, Menaria and Binny went for 86 runs off 7.4 overs) refused to turn up, Warne could do little to stop Chennai's southpaws from running away with the match.
Earlier, in what proved to be an innings of two halves, Rajasthan blew its best 10-over start in IPL-IV (86 for no loss) to crawl to 147 for six at the end of 20 overs.
Rahul Dravid (66, 51b, 10x4) and Shane Watson (32, 26b, 5x4) capitalised on some off-colour Chennai bowling and fielding to raise visions of a 180 plus total.
Chennai's plan was to keep it short to the Rajasthan openers and had it not been for a few misfields and half-chances that went abegging, the men in yellow might even have shaded the early duel.
As it turned out, Dravid and Watson played out the fast bowlers with reasonable comfort and when the spinners came on, upped the tempo.
With the exception of Shadab Jakati (two for 22) the Chennai tweakers struggled to hit the right length, dropping it short repeatedly. Dravid took full toll, making 54 runs off the 38 balls (strike rate of 142) that Chennai's spin trio tossed at him.
He spoke of the need to be creative in the pre-match press conference, and true to word, pulled out the reverse sweep more than once, and to good effect. At a time when Ashwin and Randiv had conceded 37 runs off their three overs, Jakati's tight bowling brought him his rewards, as he took a sharp return-catch to send back Watson, beginning a phase where Rajasthan conceded the advantage back to the home team.
Six overs after the halfway mark resulted in 33 runs for the loss of four wickets, with Menaria, Botha and Ajinkya Rahane all departing in quick succession. When a visibly tired Dravid pulled Suraj Randiv to Vijay in the deep, Rajasthan lost its last source of inspiration, mustering just 61 runs in the final 10 overs of the innings.
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