The Chennai Super Kings climbed atop the Indian Premier League standings Saturday after a convincing seven-wicket victory over the Rajasthan Royals, while Kings XI Punjab beat the Deccan Chargers by three wickets. Chennai has 13 points from 10 matches. It was guided to victory by right-hander Subramaniam Badrinath, who hit 59 not out and opener Matthew Hayden, who added 48. Badrinath smashed nine boundaries and a six at the De Beers Diamond Oval, sharing a match-winning 89-run stand for the third wicket with Hayden (48 off 44 balls) to reach 141-3 after Rajasthan managed 140-7 in its allotted 20 overs. Offspinner Muttiah Muralitharan took 2-22 in four overs and left-arm spinner Shadab Jakati 2-35 to restrict Rajasthan to a score clinically chased down by Chennai. “It's a huge advantage,” said Chennai captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni of his team's impressive top-order batting. His counterpart Shane Warne said his team didn't put enough runs on the board to defend. “I thought we were 20 runs short with the bat,” he said. Earlier at De Beers Diamond Oval, Brett Lee hit the winning runs to lead Punjab to victory over Deccan. Needing one run from the last two balls to overhaul Deccan's total of 168-5, Lee's strike off Rudra Singh sparked fervent celebrations in the Punjab dugout. The Australian bowler, playing in his first game of the IPL season, finished on 14 runs off 10 balls. Lee had also been impressive with the new ball, bowling at good pace and length to claim 1-24 from four overs. “It will take a few games to get where I want,” Lee said. “But I'm pretty happy with my performance today.” Mahela Jayawardene set the foundation for Punjab with a solid innings of 43 to earn the Man of the Match award. Punjab's win saw it catching up with Deccan in fourth position on 10 points although Deccan have a better net run rate. However, Punjab have only played nine matches, one less that Deccan. Rajasthan 140-7 (Smith 30, Jadeja 27, Asnodkar 26, Warne 21 not out; Muralitharan 2-22, Jakati 2-35). Chennai 141-3 in 18.2 overs (Badrinath 59 not out, Hayden 48). Deccan 168-7 (Gilchrist 20, Suman 27, Symonds 60 not out, V. Rao 32). Punjab 169-7 (Sohal 30, Jayawardene 43, Shoaib 2-25, Sharma 2-12). – APToday's Matches 1330 Bangalore Royal Challengers vs. Mumbai Indians 1730 Delhi Daredevils vs. Kolkata Knight RidersIndian Premier League Table (played, won, lost, tied, no result, points, net run-rate) Chennai 10 6 3 1 13 +1.222 Delhi 8 6 2 0 12 +0.209 Rajasthan 10 5 4 1 11 -0.114 Deccan 9 5 4 0 10 +0.125 Punjab 10 5 5 0 10 -0.447 Bangalore 9 4 5 0 8 -0.395 Mumbai 9 3 5 1 7 +0.390 Kolkata 9 1 7 1 3
