Chennai Super Kings 115-1 (Murali Vijay 48*, Michael Hussey 38, Irfan Pathan 1-15) beat Delhi Daredevils 114-5 (Yogesh Nagar 43*, Venugopal Rao 27, Ben Hilfenhaus 3-27) by 9 wickets.

Ben Hilfenhaus ripped through the top order batting of Delhi Daredevils who were unable to recover as Chennai Super Kings crushed them in the IPL 2012.

Delhi Daredevils scored 114 runs for the loss of five wickets in the scheduled 20 overs and Chennai Super Kings overpowered them by blasting 115 runs in 15.2 overs with nine wickets in hand.

Ben Hilfenhaus (Chennai Super Kings) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his deadly bowling spell.

The 59^th match of the Indian Premier League was played on Saturday, May 12^th, 2012 at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai, which is the home of Chennai Super Kings and the local crowd was excited to witness their team won the encounter.

Earlier, MS Dhoni, the captain of Chennai Super Kings, won the toss and elected to field first while preferring to chase on the home ground. Delhi Daredevils surrendered against the lethal bowling attack of the rivals and especially Ben Hilfenhaus, who removed the top three batsmen as Albie Morkel made another dent by removing the fourth. They were reeling at 24-4 in 5.2 overs and the batsmen who went back to the pavilion included the big guns, David Warner, the skipper Virender Sehwag, Naman Ojha and the seasoned Mahela Jayawardene.

Venugopal Rao and Yogesh Nagar put their heads down and tried to stabilise the innings while creeping. The boundaries were difficult to earn and the first fifty of the innings was achieved in the 10^th over. Venugopal Rao got a couple of sixes by the end of the 13^th over and Nagar gathered 17 runs off 23 balls. They enhanced the score to 72 in 13.2 overs when Venugopal Rao was caught excellently by Morkel at short cover off Ravichandran Aashwin for 27 off 24 balls with a couple of sixes.

Irfan Pathan joined in next with Nagar and they guided the score to 94 at the end of the 18^th over as Naman Nagar added 11 runs in the 19^th over with one six and a four. Nagar remained unbeaten for 43 off 47 deliveries with one six and a four as Irfan Pathan managed 13 when Delhi Daredevils posted 114 runs on board with five wickets in hand at the end of the 20^th over.

Ben Hilfenhaus broke the back of the Delhi Daredevils batting by grabbing three wickets whereas Albie Morkel and Ashwin claimed one wicket each.

Chennai Super Kings initiated the innings with the experienced Michael Hussey and Murali Vijay as the duo started off well by accumulating 25 runs in the first four overs. They dispatched 13 runs in the fifth over with two boundaries each from both batsmen and Vijay added a couple of more in the seventh over which brought the fifty of the innings as well. Vijay got a life when he was dropped on the fourth ball of the 10^th over by the wicketkeeper Naman Ojha off Reolof van der Merve for 32 runs.

The openers gave a solid stand of 75 runs in 10.1 overs when Michael Hussey was caught by Mahela Jayawardene at point off Irfan Pathan for 38 off 32 balls with 1six and 5 fours. Suresh Raina replaced Hussey and hit a six on the last ball of the 11^th over and Murali Vijay followed him in the 14^th over and hundred of the innings appeared on the score board.

The target was attained on the second ball of the 16^th over when Raina took three runs and Chennai Super Kings thrashed 115 runs for the loss of just one wicket with 28 balls to spare. Murali Vijay was at the crease with 48 off 40 balls with one six and five fours as Suresh Raina was unbeaten for 28 off 20 deliveries comprising two sixes and one four.

Points secured by both teams after the close of the 59^th match of the IPL 2012:

Delhi Daredevils         – 18 from 13 games at a net run rate of +0.729.

Chennai Super Kings   – 15 from 14 games at a net run rate of +0.223.