It was expected to be a battle royal but fizzled out like a wet cracker, Chennai Super Kings storming to a 78-run victory over Deccan Chargers at the Buffalo Park here on Monday. The match bucked the trend of great contests that have gone down to the wire and left Mahendra Singh Dhoni a delighted man as his team picked up their third win on the trot and topped the league with nine points.
Winning the toss and opting to take first strike on a batting track in a small ground, Dhoni and his team piled up a massive 178 for three in 20 overs, the captain himself top-scoring with a half-century that was brilliantly paced. Dhoni’s 58 came off 37 balls (six fours and a six) and ensured that Matthew Hayden’s good work (43 off 26 balls, five fours, three sixes) was made capital of.
Dhoni promoted himself up the order to No. 3 and finally came to the party with a smart innings, first by playing himself in and then by opening out. Barely a match after he termed his own batting as pathetic, Dhoni was given the man of the match award for his crafty innings. His knock propelled Chennai Super Kings to a wonderful total.
Deccan Chargers missed the accuracy and firepower of Fidel Edwards – he has flown to England to take part in the Test series – and Australian Ryan Harris did not measure up to the task of bowling to Hayden. None of the Deccan Chargers bowlers was able to make an impact once Chennai Super Kings decided to play out Pragyan Ojha carefully.
With opener Murali Vijay (31) and Suresh Raina (32, 19 balls, one four, two sixes) contributing and being associated in partnerships with Hayden and Dhoni respectively, Chennai Super Kings had posted a challenging total, even with their record of dropping catches. It was up to Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs to pick up the gauntlet for Deccan Chargers.
Both men were back in the dug out by the second over, Gilchrist falling first ball to Albie Morkel and Gibbs fared only slightly better, falling to Sudeep Tyagi off his second delivery. VVS Laxman fell in the third over and the team had scored just one run. It was a matter of how much defiance Deccan Chargers could show after that.
Dwayne Smith’s fireworks (49, 23 balls, two fours, five sixes) and his partnership with Rohit Sharma (21) breathed some life into Deccan Chargers camp but Shadab Jakati’s left-arm spin brought about a hasty end to the innings. He claimed his second four-wicket haul in successive games to send Deccan Chargers crumbling to 100 in 14.4 overs.
Chennai Super Kings pitchforked themselves to the top with nine points from eight games while Deccan Chargers, who started off with four wins in a row but have now lost three successive matches, slipped to fourth place with eight points from seven games. Kings XI Punjab (eight points, seven matches) and Delhi Daredevils (eight points, six matches) are in second and third places ahead of Deccan Chargers.
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