Royals ride on Smith's brilliant 91 to score 211 for 5

Chennai, May 24 (UNI) Perched assertively at the top of the points table, Rajasthan Royals, spurred by a brilliant 51-ball 91 by opener Graeme Smith and Swapnil Asnodkar's 41, made 211 for five in the IPL match against Chennai Super Kings at the M A Chidambaram stadium here today.

Smith and Asnodkar added 127 runs off 68 balls for the first wicket after which their Pakistani stumper Kamran Akmal held one end to score an unbeaten 53 off 28 balls with three sixes and four fours.

Smith'innings included nine fours and four sixes while Asnodkar used just 27 balls to reach 41 much to the glee of near full crowd, which had come to watch Super Kings for the last time in a home match.

The onus was on the Super Kings to press for an upset and sneak into the semi finals going into the match with 14 points.

If they were to lose this outing, they have to defeat Deccan Chargers in Hyderabad in their last league match away.

The Super Kings brought in another young upcoming talent in form of left-hander Abhinav Mukund, who was part of the World Cup winning under-19 Indian team.

The Royals' captain Shane Warne had earlier stated that the Kings' fighting prowess would not be taken lightly, went into the match without star player Shane Watson of Australia and Mahesh Rawat.

They also brought in Pankaj Singh.

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