IPL 5: Chennai Super Kings climb after win over Deccan Chargers

Chennai: Cameron White’s 53-ball 77 went in vain as Deccan Chargers slumped to a ten-run defeat, their seventh in ten matches, against Chennai Super Kings in an Indian Premier League match here on Friday.

White, with his nine fours and two sixes, led Deccan’s chase of Chennai’s 160. But his effort proved insufficient at the end as the visitors could only manage 150 for 5 in their 20 overs. White was supported well by Shikhar Dhawan, who contributed with 36 before being unfortunately rut-out at the non-strikers’ end. 

After an early dismissal of Parthiv Patel (1), who was bowled by Albie Morkel, both White and Dhawan strung 68 runs for the second wicket. But with 29 to get in the last two overs, White was run out when he attempted to challenge the left arm of Ravindra Jadeja, whose strong throw from deep cover found the batsman short of his crease. Daniel Christian’s unbeaten 24 off 27 couldn’t take Deccan past the finish line. For Chennai, Ben Hilfenhaus, who made his IPL debut, Morkel and Suresh Raina all picked up one wicket each.

With their fifth win in ten matches, Chennai climbed from fifth to fourth in the points table, while Deccan maintained their wooden spooners’ tag.

Earlier, Faf du Plessis once again provided Chennai a flying start. The South African batsman, who has already scored 376 runs in this edition of the IPL so far, smacked two fours and a six over wide long-on during his innings of 42. Murali Vijay, who returned to Chennai’s playing XI in place of Wriddhiman Saha, hit a couple of boundaries but was dismissed when his attempted lofted shot off Veer Pratap Singh found Amit Mishra at third-man. Raina, in his 24-ball 32, once again displayed his array of strokes. He struck two maximums and two fours before finding Abhishek Jhunjhunwala at long-on off Mishra. But the 64-run stand he shared with du Plessis gave the much-needed spark to the CSK innings.

MS Dhoni, who promoted himself up in the batting order, played a rather subdued innings, scoring 34 off 28 balls. But his small but useful partnerships with du Plessis, Jadeja (4) and Morkel (13) ensured that Chennai finished with a competitive score. For Deccan, Singh picked up two wickets in his three overs, though he gave away 35 runs in the bargain. Christian, Jhunjhunwala, Mishra and Ashish Reddy all chipped in with a wicket each.