~~~CRICKET AROUND THE WORLD!~~~: 04/28/08

Bangalore Royal Challengers v Chennai Super Kings, IPL, Bangalore

Dhoni and Hussey power Chennai to 178

April 28, 2008

20 overs Chennai Super Kings 178 for 5 (Dhoni 65, Hussey 47) v Bangalore Royal Challengers
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Mahendra Singh Dhoni's 65 helped the Chennai Super Kings seize advantage (file photo) © Getty Images

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.

Although Hussey began to provide the initial acceleration during the last five overs, he was quickly overshadowed by Dhoni who mesmerised the Chinnaswamy crowd with tremendous power and improvisation.

Twenty20 match

Indian Premier League - 15th match
Bangalore Royal Challengers v Chennai Super Kings

2007/08 season

Played at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore, on 28 April 2008 - day/night (20-over match)

Result Chennai Super Kings won by 13 runs


Chennai Super Kings innings (20 overs maximum)			R	B	4s	6s	SR
	PA Patel	c Kallis b Kumar	21	17	2	1	123.52
	ML Hayden	b Khan	13	19	2	0	68.42
	MEK Hussey	c Dravid b Khan	47	37	3	2	127.02
	SK Raina	run out (Jaffer/Boucher)	28	17	1	2	164.70
	MS Dhoni	c sub (R Vinay Kumar) b Khan	65	30	9	3	216.66
	JDP Oram	not out	0	0	0	0	-
	Extras	(lb 1, w 3)	4

	Total	(5 wickets; 20 overs)	178	(8.90 runs per over)

Did not bat S Badrinath, JA Morkel, Joginder Sharma, P Amarnath, M Gony

Fall of wickets1-22 (Hayden, 3.6 ov), 2-42 (Patel, 6.3 ov), 3-83 (Raina, 11.6 ov), 4-178 (Dhoni, 19.5 ov), 5-178 (Hussey, 19.6 ov)


Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
DW Steyn	4	0	40	0	10.00	(3w)
Z Khan	4	0	38	3	9.50
P Kumar	4	0	29	1	7.25
JH Kallis	4	0	36	0	9.00
B Akhil	4	0	34	0	8.50


Bangalore Royal Challengers innings (target: 179 runs from 20 overs)			R	B	4s	6s	SR
	B Chipli	b Gony	8	11	1	0	72.72
	W Jaffer	c Oram b Amarnath	50	33	5	2	151.51
	LRPL Taylor	c Raina b Amarnath	53	34	3	3	155.88
	JH Kallis	c Dhoni b Joginder Sharma	14	10	2	0	140.00
	MV Boucher	c Hussey b Gony	4	6	0	0	66.66
	V Kohli	b Morkel	12	7	2	0	171.42
	R Dravid	lbw b Gony	0	1	0	0	0.00
	P Kumar	run out (Joginder Sharma/Oram/Dhoni)	6	5	0	0	120.00
	Z Khan	run out (Raina/Dhoni)	8	6	1	0	133.33
	B Akhil	not out	2	3	0	0	66.66
	DW Steyn	c Hussey b Joginder Sharma	1	2	0	0	50.00
	Extras	(lb 1, w 6)	7

	Total	(all out; 19.4 overs)	165	(8.38 runs per over)