Jaipur, May 4: Sohail Tanvir bowls with a quirky action. When pundits saw him for the first time in India they concluded he bowled off the wrong foot. The truth is the seamer simply lacks a follow through. The peculiar action is not easily picked and Chennai Super Kings found that out the hard way as Sohail packed of six batsmen for a measly 14 runs.

The rest was a formality as the Rajasthan Royals moved into the sole lead in the IPL with an emphatic eight-wicket win at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium here on Sunday, their fifth victory in succession. Chasing 110 for a win, the Royals coasted home in 14.2 overs.

Starting slowly they were helped in the cause by another listless show by seamer Manpreet Gony, who did not bowl the right length. Albie Morkel was also way off target in his first over and the Royals reached 50 in the seventh over without trouble.

Any hopes of a revival for the Super Kings were snubbed early when Joginder Sharma failed to accept the simplest of offerings by Graeme Smith who miscued a pull off Makhaya Nitini.

Muttiah Muralitharan was introduced with two close catchers in order to instill some pressure but openers Swapnil Asnodkar and Smith marched on merrily to post 78 for the first wicket. S. Vidyut struck with his first ball in IPL when Asnodkar holed out to deep mid-wicket. Yusuf Pathan also fell soon but there was nothing in the target to usher in excitement.

Given the bowling strength of the Super Kings, the decision of Dhoni to bat first was only logical. The best possible situation for the visitors was to pile up a big score and outbat the opponents. Tanvir however, had other ideas though. Getting the ball to duck back into the left-handers he had Parthiv Patel first up and four balls later Stephen Fleming to reduce Chennai to 1/2 in the first over. Both were marginal decisions where umpire Asad Rauf may have failed to take notice of the bounce.

Tanvir and Shane Watson operated at a lively pace and kept the ball just outside the off-stump. The Pakistan pacer got Vidyut on the slash; his first spell reading a magical 2-0-2-3. The speedster had pushed Chennai so far back that recovery of any sort was never going to be a real option.

Warne used all his four medium pacers by the sixth over. Watson got S. Badrinath, who until that moment had looked assured, with extra bounce and the batsman paid the price for attempting the pull without transferring his weight. Dhoni found himself at the crease far earlier than he would have expected.

The six power play overs produced only 38 runs, which hardly inspired a big score. Dhoni went following Warne’s leg break as Smith pouched a neat low catch to give the Royals a dominant hold on the game.

Morkel and Suresh Raina thereafter made slow progress. The Royals managed to send down 25 deliveries without a boundary. It was a situation tailor-made for Warne and he backed Tanvir’s initial damage superbly.

Against the run of play Raina was dropped by Pathan off Warne and Morkel rubbed it in with three fours and a six, all off Warne in two overs. The momentum was so much with the Royals that even the occasional lapse by their bowlers went unpunished. Thereafter Munaf Patel struck to remove Raina and Joginder in the same over as Chennai plunged to 91/7 in 15 overs.

It was soon all over for the early league leaders and the Royals knocked off the required runs without undues fuss, Smith and Watson seing them through with plenty to spare.