Chennai move to IPL summit

Subramaniam Badrinath led Chennai to a comfortable victory over Rajasthan with an unbeaten innings of 59 from 41 balls

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An 89-run stand between Matthew Hayden and Subramaniam Badrinath guided Chennai Super Kings to a seven-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals in Kimberley which sent them top of the Indian Premier League table.

The veteran Australian reigned in his penchant for big-hitting somewhat, striking just five boundaries in his 48.

Badrinath was rather more explosive with his unbeaten 59 coming off 41 balls as Chennai reached their target of 141 for the loss of just three wickets.

Muttiah Muralitharan earlier took 2-22 in his four overs, dismissing dangerman Graeme Smith for 30 and Swapnil Asnodkar for 26, as Chennai limited Rajasthan to 140 for seven.

The Royals won the toss and elected to bat on the very slow wicket, but Albie Morkel got Chennai off to a fine start as he removed Naman Ojha for a duck with just one run on the board.

Smith and Asnodkar put together a stand of 53 for the second wicket before Muralitharan snaffled the latter lbw, and that was as good as it got for Rajasthan.

Ravindra Jadeja cracked a quickfire 27 and Shane Warne clobbered an unbeaten 21 off 11 balls late in the innings, but no one else managed double figures.

The Super Kings reached their target with relative ease, despite the early losses of Murali Vijay for 10 and Suresh Raina for 16.

Vijay fell lbw to Siddharth Trivedi, while Raina was caught by Lee Carseldine off the bowling of Amit Singh.

Hayden and Badrinath guided them to the verge of victory before Warne struck to dismiss his former team-mate.

It merely delayed the inevitable, though, as Chennai wrapped up victory inside 19 overs.