Bangalore Royal Challengers v Chennai Super Kings
Dhoni scripts narrow Chennai win

Bangalore—The Chennai Super Kings overcame two adverse situations, once with the bat and then with the ball, to extend their unbeaten streak in the IPL to four matches, defeating the Bangalore Royal Challengers by 13 runs at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Chennai were struggling during their innings, having scored only 102 for 3 off 15 overs before Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Michael Hussey clouted 76 off the last five overs. Their bowlers were under pressure during the chase as Bangalore cruised to 102 for 2 in only the 11th over but a middle-order collapse saw the hosts crash to their third defeat at home.
The Bangalore Royal Challengers had the better of the first 15 overs of the match, but a savage onslaught from Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Michael Hussey ensured Chennai Super Kings converted an iffy start into an imposing total. Bangalore are yet to win at home and their batsmen will have to produce something special on a lively pitch to chase a target of 179.
Chennai had managed to score only 102 for 3 off the first 15 overs and were in desperate need of acceleration. They found it hard initially for Dhoni was scoring at a run a ball and Hussey had struck only one boundary in his first 24 deliveries. With five overs to go the pair turned it on: Hussey struck B Akhil for consecutive sixes to take 14 runs off the 16th over and then he scored two boundaries off Kallis after which Dhoni launched the ball over long-off to take 16 runs off the 17th.
Dale Steyn had bowled three fast and economical overs but his fourth was a disaster. Dhoni clubbed two fours down the ground, edged one to the third-man boundary, and powerfully hit a four and a six towards midwicket. He took 24 off the over and then drove and pulled Zaheer Khan for 14 off the first four balls of the final over before holing out to deep cover. Chennai scored 76 runs off the last five, and Dhoni’s 65 off 30 balls could make the difference. The target of 179 isn’t the biggest to chase but the pitch isn’t your conventional Twenty20 belter: it offered bounce to the fast bowlers and it was two-paced as well, factors that prompted both teams to rest their spinners - Anil Kumble and Sunil Joshi for Bangalore and Muttiah Muralitharan for Chennai. The inclusion of Steyn, who had just arrived after playing in the Standard Bank Pro20 Series in South Africa, was a fillip to the Bangalore attack and his mid-140kph pace made a world of difference at the start.
Steyn’s pace and length forced Matthew Hayden to abandon his intimidating walk down the wicket and play him with caution, while Parthiv Patel found it difficult to counter the bounce. With Steyn proving difficult to get away, Hayden was forced to go after Zaheer: he tried to make room and smash him down the ground. The first attempt resulted in an inside-edge that ran past the stumps for four, the second inside-edge the very next ball crashed into the stumps.
Parthiv struggled against the shorter balls but when Zaheer bowled fuller and straighter he was able to clip neatly off his pads. He attempted to hook against Praveen Kumar’s marginally slower pace and top-edged over the fine-leg boundary to record the innings’ first six. However, he steered the very next ball to Jacques Kallis at first slip. Suresh Raina began to up the pace by pulling B Akhil and Praveen powerfully over midwicket for sixes but a mix-up with Hussey cut short his innings on 28 off only 17 balls.—Agencies