Chennai Super Kings 3-164 (Suresh Raina 63*, MS Dhoni 45*, Luke Wright 1-12) beat Pune Warriors 9-127 (Steven Smith 35, Kane Richardson 26, Mohit Sharma 3-21) by 37 runs.
MS Dhoni played an astonishing and sparkling knock which uplifted Chennai Super Kings who went on to win comfortably against the minnows Pune Warriors.
Chennai super Kings blasted 164 runs for the loss of just three wickets in the allocated 20 overs and restricted Pune Warriors to 127 with one wicket left after utilising the required overs.
MS Dhoni (Chennai Super Kings) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his sharp captaincy and a punching innings of 45 from 16 mere balls.
The 42nd match of the Indian Premier League was played on Tuesday, April 30, 2013, at Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium, Pune.
Earlier, Dhoni won the toss and opted to bat but lost his champion batsman, Michael Hussey, for just five runs when he was clean bowled by Kane Richardson. The man in form, Suresh Raina got together with Wriddhiman Saha and they hit 16 runs in the fourth over with 1 six and 2 fours. Saha could not go along well and was declared leg before wicket off Rahul Sharma for 13 as the total touched 28 in 5.4 overs. S Badrinath came in next as Raina was dropped at 16 by Luke Wright at short midwicket off Ashok Dinda in the 9th over.
Badrinath added 13 runs in the 13th over with a couple of fours and Raina accumulated 10 in the next one with a six. The score crossed the hundred runs mark in the 15th over and S Badrinath was caught by Steven Smith at long off at the bowling of Luke Wright for 34 runs and was replaced by MS Dhoni who started off with 1 four and 1 six on the first two balls he faced. Suresh Raina attained his fifty in the 17th over and the following over produced 17 runs with 1 six and 2 fours. Dhoni closed the curtain by dispatching 1 six and 1 four on the last two balls and held his end for 45 off just 16 comprising 3 giant sixes and 4 fours. Suresh Raina remained unbeaten for 63 off 50 deliveries with 1 six and 5 fours as Chennai Super Kings hammered 164 with seven wickets intact in 20 overs.
Robin Uthappa and his captain Aaron Finch went in for the chase and the first hit a six in the opening over. Finch followed him in the next over with 1 six and 1 four as Mohit Sharma picked up two wickets in the third over. He removed Finch on the fifth ball for 15 and Tirumalasetti Suman was held lbw on the sixth ball for a duck. Robin Uthappa became the next victim when he was run out for 10 and Yuvraj Singh added to the miseries of his team when he was caught behind by Dhoni off Sharma for just five runs.
The home side was reeling at 6-61 in 9.1 overs as Kane Richardson joined in with Steven Smith. They crawled to 79 after 13 overs as Richardson brought some light in the game by hitting 1 six and 1 four in the coming over. The seventh wicket partnership took the score to 92 in 14.2 overs when Steven Smith was caught and bowled by Ravindra Jadeja for 35 off 39 with 3 fours. The wickets kept on tumbling and Kane Richarson was the 8th batsman who went back to the pavilion for 26 off 20 balls with 1 six and 2 fours. Bhuvneshwar Kumar played a breezy unbeaten innings of 24 off even balls as Pune Warriors managed 127 after losing 9 wickets.
Mohit Sharma was the star performer with three wickets whereas Ravindra Jadeja, Chris Morris and Dwayne Bravo claimed one wicket each.
Chennai Super Kings clinched the 8th game out of 10 played so far and are ruling the table with 16 points.
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