10 May,2009 06:42 AM IST | | PTI
Badrinath's half ton helps Super Kings overcome Rajasthan
S Badrinath smashed a brilliant unbeaten 59 and shared a crucial 89-run partnership with Matthew Hayden (48) to fashion Chennai Super Kings' impressive seven-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals in their Indian Premier League match here on Saturday.
Chennai not only recorded their fifth win in a row but also beat the defending champions for the second time in the second edition of the event to remain atop the points table.
Chasing 141 to win, last year's finalists, overhauled the target with 10 balls to spare. Earlier, riding on a disciplined bowling attack, Chennai had restricted Rajasthan to a modest 140 for seven.
The slow nature of the wicket at the De Beers Diamond Oval made the contest between the ball and the bat interesting and set up an exciting finish.
Hayden and Badrinath batted intelligently as stroke-making was quite difficult on the 22-yard-strip here.
Badrinath supported Hayden well after losing two early wickets as the duo knit together 89-runs for the third wicket.
The Tamil Nadu batsman hit Shane Harwood for one six and three fours in the 16th over to took the pressure off Hayden, who batted with determination from the start.
Hayden departed when he danced down to the wicket on one off rival skipper Shane Warne in the 17th over but was foxed by the big turn and stumper Naman Ojha uprooted his stumps.
