Smith leads successful Chennai chase against Royals

RANCHI, India, CMC- West Indies in-form batsman Dwayne Smith top scored again to setup a chase that allowed Chennai Super Kings to romp home by five wickets against Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier league (IPL) yesterday.

In a one sided encounter, Smith scored 44 from 35 balls which set the foundation for Chennai to reach 149 for 5 with two balls to spare, in response to Rajasthan Royals 148 for 8.

Dwayne Smith
Dwayne Smith

Smith batted in his customary attacking fashion hitting five fours and two sixes and sharing in a 35-run partnership with Faf du Du Plessis who scored 38.

Smith also hit a couple of straight sixes off James Faulkner before mistiming a pull-shot off Kevon Cooper to be caught by glovesman Dishant Yagnik.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni , who scored an unbeaten 26 off 16 balls, reaffirmed his status as an outstanding finisher in limited overs cricket with yet another fluent final flourish, hitting a six off Faulkner’s final over to make the required 12 runs off the final over look easy.

CSK now are on top of the eight-team table having 16 points from 10 games while Kings XI Punjab with 14 from nine games are a notch below.

Despite the loss, Royals, on 12 points from 10 games also remain firmly in contention for a play—off berth holding onto their third place.