World Of Sports

Graeme Smith smashed 91 to lead Rajasthan Royals to a thrilling 11-run victory over the Chennai Super Kings on Saturday.

The South Africa captain guided the visitors to 211 for five - a total which proved just beyond the battling Super Kings, who finished on 201 for seven, despite half centuries from Parthiv Patel and Albie Morkel, and Suresh Raina's 45.

Chennai needed 15 off the last over for victory but Sohail Tanvir dismissed Morkel for 71 and Abhinav Mukund (nought) with the last two balls of the game.

The hosts' hopes of chasing down the daunting total suffered a setback in the second over when Stephen Fleming (seven) was run out by Tanvir's direct throw, but Raina soon took charge, smashing Munaf Patel for 19 runs off the third over.

He made 45 off 24 balls before he lobbed Shane Warne to deep midwicket where Mohammad Kaif took a simple catch.

Parthiv Patel injected some spark into the run rate with a quick-fire 54 off 40 balls before he came down the track to Warne and was stumped.

Morkel maintained the momentum and reached the third-fastest IPL 50 - off 26 balls - to keep Chennai in contention but the Super Kings' chances suffered a blow when Dhoni was caught by Kaif at long off attempting to loft Tanvir over the boundary.

Subramaniam Badrinath (one) soon followed after skying Patel down the throat of Taruvar Kohli at cow corner and Chennai's hopes disintegrated when Tanvir removed Morkel and then Mukund with the last two balls of the game.

Earlier, Rajasthan started with a bang and hit Makhaya Ntini for 12 in the first over - six of those coming from Swapnil Asnodkar's lofted maximum over long-on off a free hit.

Asnodkar continued to rack up the runs and tormented Gony by bludgeoning him around the park, scoring boundaries at regular intervals.

At the other end Graeme Smith followed suit and raced to 50 inside nine overs, steering Morkel to third man for a quick single to bring up his eighth Twenty20 half-century.

The South Africa skipper oozed confidence as he guided the Royals to 100 runs without loss by nudging Muttiah Muralitharan off the leg side for a single in the 10th over.

Smith dished out the same treatment to Lakshmipathy Balaji at the other end, battering the paceman for a three fours and a six in the 11th over.

The 127-run partnership eventually came to a halt in the next over when Asnodkar was run out at the striker's end after Smith called a single.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni was quick to react at extra cover and threw in to Parthiv Patel who whipped off the bails with Asnodkar millimetres from safety.

Smith smashed Raina for six over deep midwicket to come within nine runs of a ton, but he fell the next ball when he was caught by Dhoni at extra cover.

Kamran Akmal entered the fray and pummelled 53 off 28 balls to maintain the imposing run-rate in the final few overs, but Yusuf Pathan (six) mistimed a Morkel delivery and toe-ended to Muralitharan at long off.