Jaipur, May 11: Chennai Super Kings kept alive their chances of qualifying for the play-offs by eking out a four-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals in a crucial Indian Premier League match here yesterday.
After restricting Rajasthan to 126 for six, CSK rode on Albie Morkel and Srikkanth Anirudha's late bursts to romp home with 11 balls to spare.
However, CSK's run chase were off to a bad start as they lost wickets at regular intervals to totter at 84 for six at one stage.
Chasing a modest total, CSK were dealt an early blow when Shane Watson went through the defence of a struggling Murali Vijay in the first over.
New man in Suresh Raina (23 off 17) played a cameo before he was brilliantly caught by Ajinkya Rahane off Pankaj Singh.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni's decision to promote Dwayne Bravo up the order failed to yield the desired result after the West Indian was caught at deep square-leg by Stuart Binny off Siddharth Trivedi in the 12th over.
To make matters worse for CSK, Michael Hussey fell victim of an uncessary mix up with Dhoni in the next over.
Needing 30 off the last three overs, Morkel and Anirudha scored identical six-ball 18 and stitched undefeated 43 runs for the seventh wicket to guide CSK to the vital win.
Morkel and Anirudha tore apart the Australian duo of Watson and Shaun Tait to notch up the required runs in 18.1 overs.
By virtue of this win, CSK moved up to the fourth position in the standings with 13 points from as many games, while Rajasthan have slipped to the sixth spot with 12 points from 13 games.
