While Royals continue to rise, it's up to Mumbai to arrest their fall. Over to the other game now. Ciao ciao.
"It's nice to be back with Royals," Watson says. "Chennai is a great team, so it was a good win against them.The pitch was a little bit slow and little bit dry, but we summed up the conditions pretty quickly and the bowlers bowled well to give ourselves the best chance. Chris Morris bowled very well. Dwayne Bravo played a brilliant innings. But I am very proud of the way we played today. We are getting better every year. The people we have brought in this year complement the team and we continue to learn."
Ajinkya Rahane is the Man of the Match. He is the leading run-getter in this IPL now. He talks about playing his natural game, making the most of the form and enjoying cricket.
Shane Watson gets an award for hitting the most sixes and Pravin Tambe gets another award for picking up the wicket of Brendon McCullum.
"We are playing well through the tournament, but i thought this was a perfect game," says Dravid. "Chennai is a big side and I am very glad with the performance. To restrict them to less than 160 was incredible from the bowlers."
"It was an off day for us," Dhoni says. "When I went to bat, I ate up a lot of deliveries. It was quite a good wicket, under the light, it gets slightly better. It played how we thought it would play. It was a back-to-back game for us after Mumbai, and the heat could have been a factor (behind the flat display) but we have to come back. Bravo released a lot of pressure of me. IF he can play like this, I can play somewhere else in the batting order. With Jadeja and Ashwin to follow, it gives our batting potency."
7.15 pm So Rajasthan Royals keep their slate clean with their fifth win in a row. It ends Chennai Super Kings unbeaten run as well. What a game it has been for Shane Watson.. Coming back from injury, it seemed his inclusion could disturb an already settled combination, but he has made superb impact. Along with Rahane, he added a record144 runs for the opening wicket. At one stage it seemed they would complete a 10-wicket win.. But they were never really hurried in their chase. Chennai Super Kings appeared a bit flat in their bowling attack, or maybe it was the calm batting from Rahane and Watson that made it look that way. A flat game for Super Kings, who, apart from Bravo's fifty in the first innings, didn't have much to smile about.
No Faulkner. Karun Nair comes in to hit the winning run
SPD Smith c & b Bravo 6 (8m 7b 0x4 0x6) SR: 85.71
So Smith it will be to hit the winning runs..
END OF OVER:18 | 9 Runs | RR: 156/1 (1 run required from 12 balls, RR: 8.66, RRR: 0.50)
- Steven Smith6 (6b)
- Ajinkya Rahane76 (55b)
- Mohit Sharma4-0-33-0
- Ravindra Jadeja4-0-29-1
END OF OVER:17 | 3 Runs 1 Wkt | RR: 147/1 (10 runs required from 18 balls, RR: 8.64, RRR: 3.33)
- Ajinkya Rahane71 (52b)
- Steven Smith2 (3b)
- Ravindra Jadeja4-0-29-1
- Mohit Sharma3-0-24-0
