Super Kings too good for Rajathan Royals

S Badrinath, man of the match in Chennai Super Kings' win against defending champions Rajasthan Royals in the DLF Indian Premier League credited opening batsman Matthew Hayden's presence and guidance for boosting his confidence. "With Hayden around, things became easy for me. I owe it to him. He really helped me," he said.

Badrinath made a brilliant 59 and then said that it wasn't an easy track to bat on. "The ball was turning a lot. I knew I had to stick in there and give myself enough time before giving charge. Shane Warne was one bowler we had to negotiate and we managed to do that. He could bowl only four overs and we just played him safely, Haydos having one very good over against him,"

Happy with the win that put Chennai Super Kings at the top of the table, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said that it's wasn't an easy win. "We thought the track will remain the same but to our surprise the pitch started taking turn during our innings. Against Shane Warne and Yusuf Pathan, chasing even 140 could have been difficult. But thankfully we have many left-handed batsmen and they negotiated the spinners well," Dhoni said.

The Chennai skipper said his bowlers gave away 15 runs too. "We gave away 15 runs more than par. But Hayden and Badrinath played superbly. It heartening to see at least one of our top-order batsmen playing well in every match and that leaves the middle order with less pressure as the rest only have to build up on the start. But I must say that we need to improve our fielding and catching," he said.

Rajasthan Royals captain Shane Warne said they had set a target which was defendable had they managed to take some early wickets. "It was a fighting total. We would have been in the game if would have taken early wickets," he said. "But Chennai Super Kings played fantastic cricket and showed their class. They played better and controlled the game. A win would have taken us to the safe zone. But nothing to worry as we have our game on Monday and will try to get back our momentum."

Chennai Super Kings off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan said pitch would definitely help the spinners after the break. "It helped me a little bit more than anybody else. The ball is turning. I don't know if part-timers will be getting the turn or not but genuine spinners like Shane Warne will get assistance," he said.