Hayden shows his gritty side

Matthew seals it

Chasing 141 may not sound like a difficult ask for the in-form Chennai batting line-up,but Matthew Hayden amp; Co wouldve felt they were on a fifth-day Indian Test wicket because of the turn the track offered. And Hayden,who never really struggled in the sub-continent,was at the helm again as he took Chennai to the top of the table with a hard-fought 44-ball 48.

Though the first two wickets in the Chennai innings fell to seamers Siddharth Trivedi and Amit Singh,it was the spin of Yusuf Pathan,Shane Warne and Ravindra Jadeja that set back the Chennai chase. Hayden,who crossed the 400-run mark in the tournament at Kimberley on Saturday,shared an all-important 89-run stand with S Badrinath, who remained unbeaten on a 41-ball 59,taking charge in the final two overs to ensure a convincing victory for his team.

Royal grind

Earlier,opening worries returned for Rajasthan as Naman Ojha fell in the first over of the innings,bowled by Albie Morkel. Then the Chennai spinners,Muttiah Muralitharan and Shadab Jakati,who also benefited from the prodigious turn at Kimberley,put the shackles on the Rajasthan batsmen. Murali,who finished with two wickets for 22,accounted for Graeme Smith and Swapnil Asnodkar,and managed to contain the big-hitting Yusuf,who fell to Jakati for seven.

It was only thanks to a late charge by Warne,who remained unbeaten on a 11-ball 21,that Rajasthan managed to post 140.

Forget them not

amp;149; Jakati picked up the crucial wickets of Pathan and Raut in his spell of 2-35.

amp;149; Laxmipathy Balaji returned impressive figures of 1-13 in his three overs,picking up the wicket of Ravindra Jadeja.

amp;149; Graeme Smith never looked convincing but ended up as the top-scorer for Rajasthan.