CLT20: As it happened - Rajasthan Royals hold nerve to knock out Chennai Super Kings

Rajasthan Royals beat 2010 champions Chennai Super Kings to enter the Champions League T20 final. Catch all the highlights here: (Scorecard | Commentary)

23:35 (IST): QUOTES-

Rahul Dravid: One more game to go. I thought we were brilliant, the way we fought back. We were some 10-15 runs short, but to come back and defend was outstanding. We have some special players in this team, the way they perform to beat some of the bigger teams is simply great. Pravin has been bowling a lot over the years, he has played for some 20 years now. This might well be my last match as a player in Rajasthan, I have loved playing here. I do not know about the status of Hodge's injury, I will need to speak with the physio. We just have 4 fit overseas players, we will struggle without one of them.

MS Dhoni: I thought we should have done better. The bowlers did fantastically well to restrict them to 160. At one stage, I thought we might chase something around 175. Our batting was poor. We simply gifted them two run outs. We did not bat to a plan and lost too many wickets in the middle overs. Ashwin and Morris were superb. We knew we could score heavily towards the end, but we just lost too many wickets early on. Losses always hurt, but it is important to analyse our mistakes. This is their ground, they played better than us and I thought we committed more mistakes in this game, something that we can't afford during the knock-out stages.

23:24 (IST): Rajasthan Royals are through to the final after beating Chennai Super Kings by xx runs in the semifinal. There was late charge by R Ashwin (46 off 28) and Chris Morris but that was too late. The duo was involved in 71-run stand for the 8th wicket. Pravin Tambe picked up three wickets.

23:06 (IST): R Ashwin keeps Chennai's hopes alive. Chennai 123/7 (18 overs) against Royals (159/8). CSK require 37 from 12 deliveries.

22:55 (IST): Lovely shot! R Ashwin hits 1000th six of the tournament. Chennai 95/7 (15.4overs) against Royals (159/8)

22:43 (IST): WICKET! Pravin Tambe foxes another one and this time it's Suresh Raina. Raina mistimes straight to long off where substitute Ashok Menaria makes no mistake. Chennai 72/7 (12.3 overs) against Royals (159/8)

22:39 (IST): WICKET! Ravindra Jadeja is out. Jadeja edges on to keeper Dishant Yagnik as he chases a widish delivery by Shane Watson. Chennai 70/6 (12 overs) against Royals (159/8)

22:36 (IST): WICKET! Pravin Tambe gets his second as he removes Dwayne Bravo for 3. Bravo wanted to play it towards the on side, but he misses it completely and is trapped plumb in front. Chennai 61/5 (10.4 overs) against Royals (159/8)

22:28 (IST): WICKET! Big big blow for Chennai Super Kings as their skipper is out. Dhoni is hit on the back pad off Rahul Shukla's leg cutter in front of stumps. Chennai 54/4 (9.2 overs) against Royals (159/8)

22:24 (IST): WICKET! S Badrinath is out for 8. Badrinath steps down the track to slog Pravin Tambe he and keeper Diishant Yagnik both miss  it only to rebound by keeper's pads and rolls back to hit the stumps. Chennai 51/3 (8.1 overs) against Royals (159/8)

22:21 (IST): Chennai Super Kings' fifty is up in the 8th over. Badrinath and Suresh Raina are at the crease. Chennai 51/2 (8 overs) against Royals (159/8)

22:12 (IST): WICKET! Finally Murali Vijay is out. He plays it straight to mid wicket and runs to change ends but Sanju Samson was quicker as he picks the ball and pulls a direct hit at non-strikers end. Chennai 33/2 (5.4 overs) against Royals (159/8)

22:04 (IST): Murali Vijay survives a run out chance. Suresh Raina plays it with soft hands to mid wicket but was never in a mood to run. Vijay almost reaches the batting end only to realise that there was no run and ball is in the hands of Shane Watson. Watson throws it to the non strikers end which goes over the stumps on one bounce. Chennai 29/1 (5 overs) against Royals (159/8)

21:57 (IST): WICKET! Mike Hussey is out and it's not a good sign for Chennai Super Kings. Hussey plays it back to bowler which is deflected to mid on. The Aussie wanted to change ends but Murali Vijay was not interested. Kevon Cooper throws the ball to keeper Dishant Yagnik, who gives a finishing touch and Royals are delighted. Chennai 13/1 (2.5 over) against Royals (159/8)

21:48 (IST): Rajasthan Royals skipper Rahul Dravid hands the new ball to Stuart Binny. Mike Hussey and Murali Vijay are the two Chennai Super Kings openers. Chennai 2/0 (1 over) against Royals (159/8)

21:35 (IST): Ajinkya Rahane's 70 off 56 balls takes Rajasthan Royals to 159/8 in their 20 overs against Chennai Super Kings at Jaipur. Dwayne Bravo picked up three wickets in the last over - Rahane, Dishant Yagnik and Stuart Binny. Chris Morris and Jason Holder took two wickets each. Shane Watson (32) and Rahane were involved in a 59-run stand.

21:27 (IST): WICKET! Ajinkya Rahane is out after scoring 70 off 56 balls. Rajasthan 155/6 after 19.1 overs.

21:23 (IST): WICKET! Jason Holder gets the danger man Brad Hodge. Hodge was looking to go over mid wicket, he misses it completely and ball crashes onto his leg stumps. Rajasthan 121/4 after 15.1 overs.

21:09 (IST): WICKET! Chris Morris gets a timely wicket as he removes Shane Watson for 32. Watson looks to clear mid wickets but takes the outside edge and goes high in the air. Jason Holder runs in from sweeper cover to complete the catch. That also brings an end to their 38-ball 59-run stand. Rajasthan 121/4 after 15.1 overs.

21:01 (IST): FIFTY! Ajinkya Rahane scores his third consecutive fifty - his 16th in T20 format. Rajasthan 108/3 after 12.4 overs.

20:54 (IST) R Ashwin bowls an expensive first overs as he is hammered away for 16 runs. Ajinkya Rahane and Shane Watson have added 32 runs to keep things under control. Rajasthan 94/3 after 12 overs.

20:41 (IST) WICKET! Sanju Samson is out, caught by R Ashwin off Jason Holder for 11. Samson went for a pull and miscued it towards mid wicket, the ball seemed to hit the spider cam wire and came back, umpires checked but ultimately the finger was raised. Rajasthan 64/3 after 9 overs.

20:36 (IST) Rahane takes on tall Jason Holder and succeeds. A small shimmy down the track and deposits its over extra cover and mid off for a one-bounce four. Rajasthan 60/2 after 8.2 overs.

20:31 (IST) The fifty is up for the Royals, in the 8th over. It has been steady going by Ajinkya Rahane and Sanju Samson so far.

20:18 (IST): WICKET! Mohit Sharma strikes after being hit for 14 runs in the over. Kevon Cooper was promoted up the order and was just doing the right thing. But Mohit gets him with a slower one as he manges to play straight to S Badrinath at cover. Rajasthan Royals 29/2 (4 overs) against Chennai Super Kings.

20:11 (IST): WICKET! Rahul Dravid's short innings comes to an end. Dravid looks to play Chris Morris on the on side, ball hits his pad and richotes onto stumps. Rajasthan Royals 14/1 (2.4 overs) against Chennai Super Kings.

20:02 (IST): Ravindra Jadeja bowls a decent first over. Seven runs scored, Ajinkya Rahane gets off the mark with a huge six straight down the ground.

19:50 (IST): TEAMS-

Rajasthan Royals: Rahul Dravid (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Shane Watson, Stuart Binny, Brad Hodge, Dishant Yagnik, James Faulkner, Kevon Cooper, Rahul Shukla, Pravin Tambe

Chennai Super Kings: Michael Hussey, Murali Vijay, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (captain, wicketkeeper), Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, S Badrinath, Ravichandran Ashwin, Chris Morris, Jason Holder, Mohit Sharma

19:43 (IST): QUOTES-

Rahul Dravid: We would have bowled first as well. We have done well batting first here so that does not bother us much. We will look to put up a good total on board and defend it. We have one change (Dishant) Yagnik replaces (Ashok) Menaria.'

MS Dhoni: We will bowl first. The wicket won't change much and the weather too. It was a one off game the last one but we are ready for this one. One change as (Chris) Morris comes in for (Albie) Morkel.

19:32 (IST): TOSS! Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni wins the toss and puts Rajasthan Royals in to bat in the first semifinal at Jaipur.

19:00 (IST): Rahul Dravid: It has been a good going. We are in semifinal and have one more chance. We were beaten in the semifinals of IPL-6 but now have another chance. We know things would become more difficult in knockout stage because all teams would be good since they were able to reach this far. There would be no special preparations and we would stick to our normal routine. (Read more)

PREVIEW

When Rajasthan Royals finished on top of the table in Group A and booked themselves a home semifinal in the Champions League Twenty20 2013 at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Friday (October 4), they would have likely thought their opponents would be the Titans or Trinidad & Tobago. While both are fine teams, Chennai Super Kings as opponents carry a greater aura, especially in India, and Rajasthan's final match at home in 2013 is also likely to be their toughest.

Not that Rajasthan will be underdogs by any stretch, coming in with a perfect 12-0 record at home this year, but as Chennai have shown, they more than any other team in the short history of franchise cricket in India are able to raise their game when it counts.

Chennai are also not generally in the habit of having two consecutive bad games, and the collapse against Trinidad & Tobago on Wednesday could be seen as the bad day out of the way. While being bowled out for 118 is cause for worry, Chennai might have gone into the match a little undercooked and with their intensity off, as Stephen Fleming, the coach, suggested.

SQUADS

Rajasthan Royals: Rahul Dravid (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Stuart Binny, Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Ashok Menaria, Dishant Yagnik (wicketkeeper), Vikramjeet Malik, Harmeet Singh, Rahul Shukla, Pravin Tambe, Shane Watson, Brad Hodge, James Faulkner, Kevon Cooper, Shaun Tait.

Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (captain, wicketkeeper), R Ashwin, S Badrinath, Dwayne Bravo, Faf du Plessis, Jason Holder, Mike Hussey, Imtiaz Ahmed, Ravindra Jadeja, Albie Morkel, Chris Morris, Suresh Raina, Wriddhiman Saha (wicketkeeper), Mohit Sharma, Murali Vijay.