Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni led from the front, scoring an outstanding half-century to guide Chennai Super Kings to a 13-run victory over Bangalore Royal Challengers in their IPL match on Monday.
Captain Dhoni hit a fabulous 30-ball 65, with 9 fours and 3 sixes in the able company of Michael Hussey (47 off 38 balls) to take his team to a competitive 178-5 in their alloted 20 overs, even as the other Chennai batsmen struggled for the most part of the innings, after Dhoni opted to bat first.
The duo - Dhoni & Hussey shared a crucial 95-run stand for the fourth wicket.
In reply, Bangalore got off to a flying start and at one stage it looked like the hosts would simply run away with the match but the Chennai bowlers, led by Manpreet Gony (3-34), suddenly turned the tide, triggering a well-scripted collapse.
From 127-2 in 14 overs, Bangalore could just manage to add another 34 runs in the next five overs, losing seven wickets in the process.
Gony got the crucial breakthrough for Chennai when in his one over he saw off both Mark Boucher (4) and Rahul Dravid (0) to push Bangalore on to the back foot.
Needing 17 to win in the last over, the local favourites got bundled out for 165 with 2 balls to spare.
Bangalore lost opener Chipli early, but Wasim Jaffer played a fine knock of 50 off just 33 balls, even though he was dropped twice at 7 and 18.
In fact, Jaffer and Ross Taylor (53 off 34 balls) put on 89 runs together for the second wicket to lay a perfect platform for their team, bringing up 102-2 in 11 overs. But their efforts just went in vain.
Chennai team who opted for an all pace attack, bringing in Albie Morkel in place of Muttiah Muralitharan got the desired result. Apart from Gony, Joginder Sharma (2-27) and Palani Amarnath (2-37) also returned impressive figures, while Morkel took 1-38.
Earlier, an excellent effort by Bangalore bowling unit, who left out Anil Kumble and Sunil Joshi for this match, never let Chennai batters flourish, initially and Chennai could manage to bring up their 100 only in the 15th over.
But some late smashing by Hussey and Man-of-the-match Dhoni put them back on track and in the penultimate over, the skipper took 24 runs of Dale Steyn's over, which ultimately proved to be the difference in the game.
Earlier, the openers - Matthew Hayden and Parthiv Patel failed to give the kind of start Chennai wanted.
Up against a fine pace bowling unit of Zaheer Khan (3-38) and Praveen Kumar, Chennai found it hard to get into the rhythm and lost both the openers early.
Suresh Raina (28) though was playing well but got unlucky to get run-out.
However, thereafter, Hussey continued to play his shorts well but Dhoni adopted a cautious approach but one he got into the groove, he overtook his partner and in no time reached his fifty.
Chennai now are leading the points table with all four wins to their credit, while Bangalore have managed to bag just one match out of 4 they have played so far.
Teams:
Bangalore Royal Challengers: Rahul Dravid (capt), Wasim Jaffer, Ross Taylor, Jacques Kallis, Virat Kohli, Mark Boucher, Balachandra Akhil, Bharat Chipli, Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Dale Steyn.
Chennai Super Kings: Matthew Hayden, Parthiv Patel, Michael Hussey, Subramaniam Badrinath, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Jacob Oram, Albie Morkel, Joginder Sharma, Palani Amarnath, Manpreet Gony.
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