Deccan Chargers looked a gift horse in the mouth and wasted excellent starts to go down to champions Chennai Super Kings by 19 runs in their Indian Premier League game at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium here Sunday.
The Super Kings overcame a hesitant start to make 165 for five on the back of a half-century by Suresh Raina (59 off 35 balls) and hectic hitting by Albie Morkel (19 off six balls) at the death, when 69 runs came in the final five overs.
In reply, the Chargers stumbled to 146 for eight after a rollicking innings by opener Sunny Sohal (56 off 30) as the Super Kings yet again kept their nerve to chalk up their fifth win in eight matches while the visitors slumped to their fourth defeat in eight outings.
Morkel completed a fine outing with a haul of three for 38 while left-arm spinner Shadab Jakati and fast bowler Doug Bollinger chipped in with two wickets apiece to author a thrilling win.
For the Super Kings, it all boiled down to the death overs that they capitalized on to the fullest extent with Morkel striking some unbelievably massive sixes, three of them off consecutive deliveries.
The 69 runs that the Super Kings scored in the last five overs gave them a challenging total on a pitch that was getting progressively slower.
Earlier, it was more a crawl as the Chargers bowled well to keep the Super Kings batsmen on a tight leash and the early dismissal of opener Murali Vijay further slowed down the hosts.
Hussey was lucky to be let off twice, first by Chargers skipper Kumar Sangakkara, a difficult chance off Ishant Sharma and then by White at square-leg when on two and 10, off Pragyan Ojha.
The Australian southpaw did his best to get some momentum going and rode his luck to the fullest to score some useful runs in the company of Raina, who opened out after a slow start.
Raina was the dominating figure in the partnership and Hussey proved an excellent foil with his nudges and pushes with an occasional big hit.
Yet, it was only after Hussey's dismissal and the advent of Dhoni that the innings gained momentum. Raina and Dhoni went hell for leather with some massive blows that eventually helped the Super Kings to cross the 150 mark.
However, Raina perished, chancing his arms once too often, but his exit only triggered a tsunami of sixes by Morkel, as Ishant Sharma went for 21 runs in the 19th over.
The Chargers gained some reprieve in the final over bowled by Ojha as Morkel was run out and Dhoni stumped as he conceded just eight runs.
The start of the Chargers chase was as bizarre as it can get, but more importantly, the first three overs fetched them 38 runs following a sequence of unintended boundary hits and sliced sixes to the off-side; in all, two sixes and four boundaries.
Amidst all this mayhem, the Super Kings missed a run-out despite both Sohal and Dhawan stuck at one end following a misunderstanding.
Sohal continued with his rampaging innings and reached his 50 in no time before overdoing the reverse hit to be bowled by Jakati, who was brought in for the seventh over at 64 without loss.
His dismissal saw the Super Kings gradually getting a hold on the proceedings and despite the occasional big hit by the Chargers, the tide seemed to be turning the hosts' way.
Dhawan and Bharat Chipli did not make much of an impact and it was left to Sangakkara and Cameron White to build on the early momentum.
With the pressure mounting, Sangakkara departed attempting an ugly shot against Bollinger, who came on for the 16th over. The dismissal virtually saw the beginning of the end of the Chargers' challenge.
Morkel then delivered the death blows by removing White and Jean-Paul Duminy in his last over, the 19th of the innings, to effectively close the match in Super Kings' favour.
