Gilchrist won the battle of glovesman

Deccan Chargers’ fortune in the two games has been clearly defined by a Sri Lankan. In the tournament opener it was Angelo Mathews who spoiled their party and on Sunday it was Chaminda Vaas who made sure it was Chargers’ day at the Chidambaram Stadium.

Chasing a competitive total of 190 runs, Chennai Super Kings could manage just 159-9 in 20 overs.

Chaminda Vaas ran through the Chennai Super Kings top order to leave them reeling at 31 for three.

The left-arm pacer clean bowled Murali Vijay (3) before getting the prized wicket of Suresh Raina (6). The middle-order batsman was caught behind off Vaas in the third over.

Vaas returned to hit the final blow in the form of Matthew Hayden’s wicket. The former Australian opener made 17 before being caught by RP Singh.

Crisis man MS Dhoni (42) along with Justin Kemp (22) tried to stitch a partnership but a bowling change by Gilly crashed all hopes. Andrew Symonds, who was brought into the attack, hammered the final nail when Dhoni misread the short-of-good-length ball and was clean bowled.

Earlier, Andrew Symonds smashed a half-century and Herschelle Gibbs made a quickfire 45 as Deccan Chargers scored 190-4 against MS Dhoni’s men.

Symonds hit three sixes in his 43-ball knock while Gibbs struck five fours and a six as the duo added 95 runs for the third wicket. This was after captain Adam Gilchrist got the Chargers off to a flying start after opting to bat first.

Gilchrist reached 1000 runs in IPL games in his brutal 17-ball 38.

The Deccan Chargers’ skipper chipped in before a late cameo from Rohit Sharma (19*) ensured they put up a healthy total.

Sudeep Tyagi (0/39 from 1.5 overs), who bowled the last over, conceded 21 runs off his first five balls before being replaced by Justin Kemp who bowled the last over.

Off-spinner R Ashwin was the pick of the bowlers finishing with 1/26 from his four overs for the Chennai Super Kings.

After winning the toss and electing to bat first, Deccan Chargers were off to a flier as Gilchrist and VVS Laxman (12) added 55 runs in 28 balls for the opening wicket. Gilchrist was bowled by Ashwin after scoring a murderous 38 from just 17 balls smashing 4 fours and 3 sixes.

CSK then struck again in the very next ball as Laxman was run out by the combination of Dhoni and Suresh Raina.