Rajasthan Royals 8-159 (Ajinkya Rahane 70, Shane Watson 32, Dwayne Bravo 3-26) beat Chennai Super Kings 8-145 (Ravichandran Ashwin 46, Suresh Raina 29, Pravin Tambe 3-10, Rahul Shukla 1-21) by 14 runs.

Ajinkya Rahane and Shane Watson demonstrated an excellent batting for Rajasthan Royals at a difficult strip as their bowlers let CSK down in the 1^st semi final.

The hosts powered 159 runs for the loss of eight wickets at the end of the scheduled 20 overs and Chennai Super Kings were restricted to 145 with two wickets remaining.

Pravin Tambe (Rajasthan Royals) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his lethal bowling spell of 3-10.

The first semi-Final of the Champions League Twenty20 was played on Friday, October 4, 2013, at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur.

Earlier, MS Dhoni, the skipper of Chennai Super Kings, won the toss and decided to chase the target. The decision paid off in the third over when the captain of Rajasthan Royals, Rahul Dravid, was gone for just five runs. Kevon Cooper got together with Ajinkya Rahane and the first hit 1 six and 2 fours before he lost his wicket for 14. Sanju Samson walked in next as Rahane kept on moving the score board with odd boundaries. They took the score to 62 in 8.4 overs as Samson became the next victim for 11 and was replaced by Shane Watson.

Rahane added 1 six and 1 four in the 12^th over and completed his 16^th Twenty20 fifty with another boundary two overs later. Watson hit two back to back fours in the 15^th over and was caught by Jason Holder off Chris Morris for 32 off 23 balls with 4 fours. The incoming batsmen were unable to use the solid platform and the wickets were going down continuously. Ajinkya Rahane was the sixth batsman who went back to the dressing room for 70 off just 56 with 2 lofty sixes and 6 fours as Rajasthan Royals smashed 8-159 in 20 overs.

Dwayne Bravo was the highest wicket taker with three, Chris Morris and Jason Holder took two each whereas Mohit Sharma claimed one wicket.

Chennai Super Kings went down by one wicket in the third over when their star opener, Michael Hussey, ran himself out for nine runs. Suresh Raina joined in next with Murali Vijay and tried to put things in order. The first hit 2 fours in the fifth over as Vijay was run out at 33 at his individual score of 14. S Badrinath hit a couple of fours on the very first two balls he faced and Raina was doing well at the other end. The home bowlers ripped through the middle order batting line up of the visitors who were reeling at 5-61 in 10.4 overs. Badrinath, MS Dhoni and Dwayne Bravo surrendered for 8, 3 and 3 runs while Suresh Raina was the only competent batsman left in the center.

Raina added the miseries of CSK when he was caught by Menaria off Pravin Tambe for 29 from 23 deliveries with 4 fours. Chris Morris and Ravichandran Ashwin associated in the centre when their team was in dire trouble at 7-72 after 12.3 overs. The latter hit the first six of the innings in the 16^th over and kept the hopes alive for his team by getting two consecutive fours in the next one. Ashwin was the most aggressive of the two and gathered 15 runs in the 18^th over with 1 six and 1 four. Morris accumulated 11 runs in the 19^th over with 2 fours and they required 23 runs to win from the last six balls. Ravichandran Ashwin dispatched a six on the first ball of the final over but was caught on the fourth ball for 46 off just 28 balls with 3 huge sixes and even fours. Chris Morris remained unbeaten for 26 with 3 fours as Chennai Super Kings managed 145 after losing eight wickets in 20 overs.

Pravin Tambe was the top wicket taker with three whereas James Faulkner, Shane Watsona and Rahul Shukla shared one wicket each.

Rajasthan Royals clinched the semi final against Chennai Super Kings by a margin of 14 runs and qualified for the final which will be played on October 6, 2013, at Delhi.