Royal Challengers post narrow win over Chennai

The defeat at the M A Chidambaram Stadium meant that Mahendra Singh Dhoni8217;s men, with 14 points from 12 matches, will have to wait further to book their semifinal berth.

Fleming 45 off 40 balls and Patel 24 off 29 balls provided a solid start to the Super Kings putting up a decent 60-run partnership for the opening wicket.

The New Zealander was more attractive of the two, hitting three crisp fours and two towering sixes in his knock.

While displaying sensibly, Patel also played some delightful shots to get four boundaries.

Anil Kumble broke the partnership when the veteran leggie caught Patel off his own bowling.

Dhoni promoted himself up the order but did not last long as the Vinay Kumar got him caught by Kumble when the Super Kings skipper was only on four.

Kumble banked on his experience to bring the Royal Challengers back to the game as he struck twice in his fourth and final over to get Fleming and S Badrinath 1.

Lured by a delivery on the leg stump, Fleming went for a big shot and finished in the hands of Akhil Kumar on the deep square leg boundary.

Badrinath was adjudged lbw while trying to sweep Kumble, who was later adjudged the man of the match.

South African speedster Dale Steyn then got rid of the dangerous Albie Morkel 1 and S Vidyut 0 in quick succession to further hurdle the Super Kings8217; progress.

While wickets started to fell at regular intervals, Suresh Raina held one end intact and waged a lone battle playing some entertaining shots.

Manpreet Gony 4 holed out to Steyn and L Balaji 0 was run out to compound the problems for the hosts. Suresh Raina 21 not out off 20 balls looked on helplessly at the other end as the home side crashed to their fifth defeat in 12 matches.

Earlier, Morkel8217;s four-wicket haul helped the Super Kings restrict the Royal Challengers to a modest 126 for eight wickets.

After electing to bat, the visitors8217; pathetic batting again let them down and they banked on captain Rahul Dravid8217;s 39-ball 47 to go past the 120-run mark.

The Royal Challengers8217; top order collapsed cheaply to leave the side in a soup at 41 for four in the 10th over.

Jacques Kallis 5, Sreevats Goswami 10, Virat Kohli 10 and Misbah-ul-Haq 4 departed tamely, but Dravid and Mark Boucher tried to revive the fortunes of the side by gathering some quick runs.

Boucher looked dangerous as he got 17 off 15 balls, including three fours, but was trapped by Morkel before he could make any further damage.

Dravid, however, stuck to one end and played some improvised shots to garner 47 invaluable runs, studded with five boundaries, for his side.

The Royal Challengers8217; skipper became Morkel8217;s second victim as he was caught by his opposite number M S Dhoni at cover while trying an inside out shot.

A late order charge by Praveen Kumar 21 off 11 saved the blushes for the Bangalore outfit before Morkel came up with his two-wicket burst in the last over of the innings.

Morkel, despite injuring himself while taking a spectacular catch, claimed four crucial Royal Challengers8217; wickets for 32 runs.