Chennai Super Kings defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by 12 runs in their Champions league T20 match herer on Thursday.
Earlier, riding on Mahendra Sin gh Dhoni’s 19-ball 63 run innings an dSuresh Raina’s 84, CSK posted 202/4 and restricted Hyderabad to 191/7.
In the second innings, a goof up on the track saw Sunrisers Hyderabadopener Parthiv Patel getting run out after a brisk 88-run stand for the first wicket with Shikhar Dhawan. Patel scored 38 of 28 balls before falling in the 10th over.
Suresh Raina then struck to give Sunrisers second blow after addition of two runs on the board by removing JP Duminy.
Dhawan soon joined his partners in the dressing room by getting caught behind of R Ashwin. He fell two short of his half ton.
Just after the visitors crossed 100-mark, Dwayne Bravo gave them fourth blow in the form of Thisara Perera.
Darren Sammy scored 50 of 25 balls (5 sixes, 2 fours) to give the Sunrisers any glimmer of hope before being bowled by Jason Holder.
Earlier, Raina's impressive 57-ball 84 was perfectly matched by Dhoni's pyrotechnics as the hard-hitting local skipper broke the spirits of the Sunrisers bowlers with his ruthless batting display, here on Thursday.
Such was the brutality as neither speed nor spin provided any challenge to Dhoni as he decorated his 19-ball knock with an astonishing eight sixes.
There was no mistaking the impact Dhoni's arrival had on the innings and no one could better understand it than Sri lankan all-rounder Thisara Perera, who was smashed for five huge sixes in the 18th over.
Dhoni, in the process, also struck the fastest fifty in the history of the Champions league, reaching the landmark in just 16 balls and surpassing West Indian Kieron Pollard's record (50 off 18 balls).
Dhoni played a leader's innings of the finest order and, together with Raina, put on a 60-run partnership in just 23 balls for the fourth wicket.
Before Dhoni's arrival, the show belonged entirely to Raina and his powerful stroke-play.
Walking in to bat after the dismissal of opener Murali Vijay, Raina took time to get his eyes in and then made the most of the Sunrisers' tactics of utilising pace against him.
Raina unleashed an assault on the Sunrisers pacers in the middle part of the innings, launching them over the mid-wicket and long-off boundaries with consummate ease.
Raina walked back to the pavillion in the penultimate over of the innings when he single-handedly caught by Perera at long on off Dale Steyn.
Raina's fine knock was decorated with nine fours and a six.
It was South African speed merchant Steyn who drew the first blood for the Sunrisers when he removed opener Vijay for a golden duck.
Hyderabad's opening bowlers Steyn and Ishant Sharma bowled a tight line and the pressure got to Raina and Mike Hussey as they struggled to score freely.
Skipper Shikhar Dhawan's ploy to introduce part-timer J P Duminy early on into the attack paid rich dividends as he tightened the noose around CSK batsmen at one end while Ishant continued to operate from the other.
CSK's last match hero Hussey couldn't capitalise on the reprieve he got in the fourth over when he was dropped by Karn Sharma at point off Ishant and was dismissed for 21-ball 23 by Duminy in the seventh over.
Hussey was smartly caught behind by Parthiv Patel as the delivery turned sharply away from him.
Raina continued where he left off in the game against Titans and chipped in with occasional boundaries to keep the scoreboard ticking.
Next man-in, S Badrinath ably supported Raina in his pursuit for quick runs and ran singles and twos hard.
Brief Scores
Chennai Super Kings: 202 for 4 (Raina 84, Dhoni 63 no; Steyn 2/23) beatt Sunrisers Hyderabad: 191/7 (Sammy 50, Dhawan 48; Bravo 2/30, Holder 2/40) by 12 runs.