JAIPUR — Rajasthan Royals entered the semifinal of the Champions League Twenty20 (CLT20) 2013, beating  Perth Scorchers by nine wickets in the Group A encounter here Sunday.



The unbeaten second wicket century stand of 120 between Ajinkya Rahane (62 off 53 balls) and Sanju Samson (50 off 42 balls) steered the run-chase with consummate ease.



With this win, Royals top the group with 12 points.



Perth Scorchers, defending a modest total of 120, dismissed Rahul Dravid in the first over when left-arm seamer Jason Behrendorff went past the defense of the Rajasthan captain Dravid.



Earlier,  Kevon Cooper (4-18) helped Rajasthan Royals restrict Perth Scorchers to 120.



The Perth innings fell apart in the middle part of the innings after the bowlers — Cooper and leg-spinner Pravin Tambe turned the game on its head. Tambe took 2-17 off his four overs.



Brief scores:



Perth Scorchers 120 in 20 overs (Adam Voges 27; Kevon Cooper 4 for 18) lost to Rajasthan Royals 121 for 1 in 16.3 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 63*, Sanju Samson 50*) by 9 wickets.



Otago Volts prevail



Otago Volts won their Group A encounter against the Highveld Lions in the Super Over after the match ended in a tie. Needing 14 runs to win the Super Over, Jean Symes and Quinton de Kock walked out to bat, with Jimmy Neesahm to bowl. De Kock slammed a four and a six off the first two deliveries. However, Symes skied his first delivery and was easily caught. Lions made a mess of their chances after that as they scored 13 runs, but lost both their wickets. They lost the match on account of the last ball score. For Lions it was a single, while for Otago, it was a six.



Brendon McCullum’s six off the last ball of the first innings of the Super Over took Otago Volts to 13 runs and proved to be the turning point of the match. Sohail Tanvir had done a good job by restricting the New Zealand outfit to eight seven runs off the first five balls.



Brief scores:



Highveld Lions 167 for 4 in 20 overs (Quinton de Kock 109*, John Symes 20; Nick Beard 2 for 31) tied with Otago Volts 167 for 7 in 20 overs (Jimmy Neesham 52, Hamish Rutherford 32, Derek de Boorder 32; Imran Tahir 2 for 29, Lonwabo Tsotsobe 2 for 30). – Agencies