Brendon McCullum smashed a quickfire half-century (81) before Chris Morris (3/19) produced a brilliant display with the ball for Rajasthan Royals to restrict Chennai Super Kings to a modest 157 for five in an Indian Premier League match here today.
Opting to bat on familiar conditions, Chennai did not have the best of starts as they lost their first two wickets inside the fourth over with the scoreboard reading just 15.
Dwayne Smith (6) was the first to depart when he was holed out at mid-on by a diving James Faulkner off Ankit Sharma's (1/31) bowling in the third over.
In the next over, the Chennai outfit suffered another blow in the form of Suresh Raina, who managed to hit a length delivery off Morris to Faulkner at mid-off.
Thereafter, McCullum and Faf du Plesis (29 off steadied the ship with a 101-run stand for the third-wicket.
Initially McCullum and Du Plesis played cautiously and according to the merit of the ball.
McCullum opened up his arms in the sixth over smashing Pravin Tambe for two huge sixes in his opening over.
After a lull of four overs, McCulllum again opened up and struck two consecutive fours in Faulkner's second over.
McCullum continued in his aggressive vein and clobbered Rajat Bhatia for a four and six in the 14th over to take Chennai forward.
Du Plesis, on the other hand, played the second fiddle before he was run out by Shane Watson in the 17th over.
McCullum followed suit in the next over but not before scoring a well-deserved fifty. McCullum was caught by Sharma at long-leg off Morris in the 18th over as the Kiwi went for a big heave.
McCullum scored his runs off just 61 balls with the help of seven fours and fours sixes.
Chennai were dealt another blow in the next ball when Pawan Negi (13 off 7) was holed at covers by Steven Smith.
Thereafter, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (13 not out) and Dwayne Bravo (15 not out) stitched a 28-run partnership for the sixth-wicket to help Chennai go past the 150-run mark.
