Chennai Super Kings rode on brilliant half-centuries by Suresh Raina and skipper M.S. Dhoni to post a 12-run win over the Sunrisers Hyderabad in their Champions League T20 Group B game here on Thursday. Raina’s calculated 84 and Dhoni’s swashbuckling 63 not out (19 balls, 1x4, 8x6) left Sunrisers to chase 203 for an improbable win and it proved 12 runs too many for the Shikhar Dhawan-led side as they finished at 190/7. The consolation Darren Sammy’s 50 (25 balls) but his effort left him in cramps as he limped to the pavilion after losing his wicket in the penultimate over. Sunrisers needed their opening pair of Dhawan and Parthiv Patel to take them as far as possible. And the duo did exactly that, raising 88 for the first wicket before Patel was run out by Raina. CSK, though, did their bit to allow the partnership to flourish with Jason Holder grassing a straightforward chance when Dhawan was on 35, the total at 85/0. Dhoni’s decision to introduce Raina in the 10th over proved the turning point. After running Patel out, Raina bowled J.P. Duminy in the last ball of the over to reduce Sunrisers to 90/2 at the half-way stage. However, it was the wicket of Dhawan in the 11th over, by R. Ashwin, that put CSK firmly in the driver’s seat. After that, the Sunrisers batsmen were left to fight for a losing cause as none had the firepower like that of Dhoni earlier in the match. Earlier, a well made 84 off 57 balls, that formed the crux of the CSK innings, but Dhoni slammed eight sixes in his knock to power CSK to 202/4. Dhoni send the crowd into tizzy in the 18th over by Thisara Perera, costing 34 runs, with five sixes all around the ground as the total shot up to 175/3. Perera, though, caught a one-handed blinder at long-on to send back Raina in the penultimate over but the damage had been done. Dhoni smashed two more sixes in the final over to power his team past the 200-run mark.
SCORECARD Chennai Super Kings: M. Vijay c Dhawan b Steyn 0, M. Hussey c Patel b Duminy 23, S. Raina c Perera b Steyn 84, S. Badrinath c Steyn b Duminy 13, MS Dhoni (not out) 63, D. Bravo (not out) 6. Extras (w 12, nb 1) 13, Total (for 4 wkts, in 20 overs) 202. FoW: 1-0, 2-45, 3-115, 4-175. Bowling: Steyn 4-0-23-2 (1w), Ishant 4-0-40-0, Duminy 4-0-27-2 (1w), Mishra 2-0-13-0 (2w), Perera 3-0-60-0 (1nb, 3w), Sammy 3-0-39-0 (1w). Sunrisers Hyderabad: P. Patel run out (Raina) 37, S. Dhawan c Dhoni b Ashwin 48, J.P. Duminy b Raina 0, T. Perera c Vijay b Bravo 12, D. Sammy b Holder 50, A. Ashish Reddy c Dhoni b Bravo 3, K. Sharma c Vijay b Holder 11, D. Steyn not out 10, H. Vihari not out 5, Extras (lb4, w8, nb2) 14, Total (for 7 wkts; in 20 overs) 190 FoW: 1-87, 2-89, 3-91, 4-106, 5-137, 6-169, 7-175 Bowling: Mohit 4-0-41-0 (1w), Morkel 2-0-19-0, Ashwin 4-0-32-1 (1w), Holder 4-0-39-2 (1nb, 1w), S. Raina 1-0-3-1 (1w), Bravo 4-0-30-2 (1nb, 3w), Jadeja 1-0-22-0
