Hayden, Murali star in Chennai win

Delhi: Suresh Raina won the clash of the debutant captains as Dinesh Karthik’s Daredevils failed to defend a total of 185. The Super Kings eventually came out on top in a tense encounter as skipper Raina and Murali Vijay saw out the game with 5 balls to spare. Raina’s composed knock of 49* was enough for the Super Kings to win the match by 5 wickets. The platform for the successful chase was set up by opener Matthew Hayden who scored 93 off just 43 balls. The crowd at the Feroz Shah Kotla got more than a glimpse of the Aussie’s Mongoose bat. Hayden’s knock was embellished with seven sixes and nine boundaries to knock the stuffing out of the Daredevils’ bowling attack.

Hayden was particularly severe on Daredevils spinners, who were slammed over the boundary with utmost ease. The belligerent Aussie scored 19 before switching bats and ended up getting 74 more with the newest innovation in cricket bat technology. Dirk Nannes clawed back some pride for the Daredevils, but it wasn’t enough as the Super Kings proved to be too good for the home side.

Earlier, after winning the toss, Dinesh Karthik opted to bat, and it looked like the move paid off as David Warner and Virender Sehwag started well. Sehwag was in a typically belligerent mood as he punished any ball slightly off length. But Warner couldn’t quite match his partner’s dominance, as he perished after making just seven. That brought Tillakaratne Dilshan to the crease and along with that began the Daredevils’ most fruitful partnership of the day.

The duo put up an impressive 67-run stand that gave the home side some momentum. The Indo-Lankan pair was in fine form, with Sehwag turning out to be a real thorn in CSK’s side. The Daredevils looked like running away with the game, and that prompted captain Suresh Raina to bring on his ace bowler Muttiah Muralidaran. The wily spinner responded aptly for his captain by dismissing both Sehwag and Dilshan in the 12th over with the score at 103. The wheels fell off the Daredevils’ batting from then on, as some tight bowling and good catching from Raina saw the Daredevils stumble. Backed by the perseverance of Mithun Manhas (32*) and some lusty blows from Rajat Bhatia (21), the Daredevils reached a competitive total of 185/6.

With this win, Chennai move up to the third spot in the points table as the Daredevils go down a rung to occupy fifth position.