30th April 2009 - SuperSport Park, Centurion: Chennai Super Kings registered their first win against the Rajasthan Royals by virtue of a 38-run victory. Having won the toss, Warne elected to bowl because traditionally teams chasing did well at the venue. Warne innovated again by opening the attack with Pathan who stuck first ball by bowling Hayden. He followed up with Parthiv Patel’s wicket in his second over. However, the first change did not go to well as Raina opened up against the prodigy Kamran Khan. Raina and Badrinath not only rescued the innings but also gave it the necessary impetus.

However, Warne and Munaf kept a check on the scoring, with impressive figures of 1/24 and 2/25 in their respective quota of over. At 16 over, with the score 105/4, the Royals would have probably looking to chase a total of around 140. But Raina led the batting assault and took Chennai to a very competitive 164. Raina would have been disappointed on narrowly missing out on a fantastic hundred.

The Royals did not begin their campaign too well loosing Smith at the end of the second over. Asnodkar did send over the ropes but was out soon thereafter. Quniey and Jadeja looked to consolidate but Quniey dismissal just before the break meant that the Royals had yet another uphill task.

Pathan continued his good form but found Raina on long-on when he looked good on 20. Thereafter, the Royals lost wickets at regular intervals with only Jadeja providing resistance in his innings of 37. In the end, the Royals fell short by 38 runs. Raina also chipped in with a wicket and a catch and was the Man-of-the-Match.

Before ending the first leg of the tournament, the Royals will next meet an upbeat Deccan Chargers in a near must-win encounter!