Chennai Super Kings 127-6 ( Suresh Raina 23, Michael Hussey 19, Siddharath Trivedi 2-18) beat Rajasthan Royals 126-6 (Brad Hodge 33, Stuart Binny 27, Ben Hilfenhaus 2-8 ) by 4 wickets.

Chennai Super Kings demonstrated a complete teamwork which led them to a well earned victory in the low scoring match against Rajasthan Royals in the IPL 2012.

Rajasthan Royals managed 126 runs for the loss of six wickets in the allocated 20 overs and Chennai Super Kings got past that by scoring 127 runs with four wickets in hand and 11 balls to spare.

Ben Hilfenhaus (Chennai Super Kings) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his economical spell of 4 overs, one maiden, 8 runs and two wickets.

The 56^th match of the Indian Premier League was played on Thursday, May 10, 2012 at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur, where rain interrupted the match a few times.

Earlier, the captain of Chennai Super Kings, MS Dhoni, won the toss and opted to chase instead of setting a target. Rajasthan Royals lost their skipper, Rahul Dravid, early at just 6 runs and their thrilling batsman Shane Watson, surrendered 22 runs later for five runs. Ajinkya Rahane and Stuart Binny tried to consolidate the innings as the first was dropped on the fifth ball of the seventh over. They crept to 40 runs in 8.4 overs when Rahane was caught by Ravichandran Ashwin at mid-on off Yo Mahesh for 17 as Brad Hodge appeared in the centre.

Binny opened up in the 10^th over off Dwayne Bravo and gathered 16 runs with two fours and a six. He posted another four on the first ball of the 11^th over but lost his wicket on the second ball for 27 off 18 balls with one six and three fours. The fourth wicket fell at 65 as Johan Botha added a 32 runs partnership with Hodge and became the next victim for 12 runs. Hodge was the sixth batsman who left at 115 after scoring 33 runs off 28 balls with one six and two fours as Rajasthan Royals posted 126 runs on board with four wickets in hand after consuming their required quota of overs.

Ben Hilfenhaus and Yo Mahesh were the highest wicket takers with two each as Ravindra Jadeja and Ashwin held one wicket each.

Chennai Super Kings went into deficit of the first wicket for one mere run as Suresh Raina joined in with Michael Hussey. They accumulated 9 runs in the second over with a four from each batsman and Raina dispatched 3 fours to Shane Watson in the fourth over. He opted for aggression and got another four on the first ball of the sixth over off Pankaj Singh but was caught by Ajinkya Rahane on the last ball for 23 off 17 balls with 5 fours.

The second wicket was lost at 36 in six overs when Chennai Super Kings batsmen got a start but were unable to capitalize on that. The score board  kept moving but the wickets were at the slide at regular intervals as Ravindra Jadeja was the sixth batsman who went back to the pavilion for 16 when the total touched 84 in 16.2 overs. Albie Morkel and Srikkanth Anirudha put their heads down and enhanced the scoring rate instantly.

Morkel dispatched a six and one four to Pankaj Singh in the 17^th over and followed with another six in the next over off Watson. Chennai Super Kings required 12 runs from the last two overs as Shaun Tait bowled the 19^th over of the innings. Anirudha welcomed him with a six over mid wicket on the first ball, the second of the over was a no ball and the next ball produced 5 wides and the target was achieved by scoring 127 runs in 18.1 overs as both batsmen remained unbeaten for 18 runs each.

Pankaj Singh and Siddharath Trivedi were the top wicket takers with two wickets each as Shane Watson claimed one wicket.

Points scored by both teams at the end of the 56^th match of the IPL 2012:

Chennai Super Kings  –  13 points from 13 games at a net run rate of +0.081.

Rajasthan Royals          –  12 points from 13 games at a net run rate of +0.184.