Dhoni and Jakati ensure huge win

Chennai Super Kings soared to the top of the points table in dramatic fashion, recording their third consecutive win in a comprehensive defeat of Deccan Chargers at Buffalo Park. The game had everything: excellent swing that had Deccan reeling at 1 for 3, left-arm spin from Shadab Jakati that gave him his second consecutive four-wicket haul and ripped the heart out of Deccan's batting, and two whirlwind innings, one by Dwayne Smith that could only stave off the inevitable and another by MS Dhoni, at the start of the match, to set up the win. Much of that, and a dropped catch and a missed run-out, took place in a frenetic opening ten overs of Deccan's chase that had more twists, turns and frenetic passages of play than an entire Twenty20 match.

Deccan's win against their opponents in the previous encounter Durban was based on a powerful start from Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs but the change in venue brought about a shocking change in fortunes as both departed for ducks. Gilchrist was trapped first ball bang in front of the stumps off a loopy delivery by Albie Morkel and Gibbs played all over a full delivery by Sudeep Tyagi and lost his legstump to a ricochet.

VVS Laxman, desperately seeking runs to keep his place in the side, soon fell to a tame chip to midwicket off Morkel. With three ducks at the top of the order, Deccan's line-up was already resembling a poultry farm - a procession of headless chickens was, one felt, another wicket away.

That it didn't come to that owed itself to some luck and then lots of bravado. A huge mis-hit from Smith when he was on 2 fell towards three waiting fielders but, inexplicably, landed safely; the following ball produced a thick leading edge that was fluffed by Tyagi at third man. What followed in the next couple of overs stung Chennai more than those missed chances.

Choosing attack as the best form of defence, Smith bludgeoned boundaries over the on side with tremendous bat speed. One over from Albie Morkel yielded 19 runs, including two sixes; one, off a high full toss, was hit over midwicket and the next ball was flicked squarer on the on side. The next over from L Balaji was hit for 18 with Rohit Sharma joining the party.

Top Curve
Prime Numbers

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54
The average score for Chennai in the Powerplays - the highest for any team in the tournament
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34.57
The average partnership between Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs at the top of the Deccan Chargers innings
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81
The percentage of runs hit by Gilchrist in boundaries
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21
The number of golden ducks in the tournament
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28
The number of runs put up by the Deccan batsmen, barring the partnership between Dwayne Smith and Rohit Sharma

Bottom Curve

Dhoni shuffled his bowlers and brought on Jakati when the 50 partnership came up in just 21 balls to try and make things happen. Things did happen, though not quite as Dhoni intended. First, Smith clubbed Jakati for a huge six into the grass embankment. In his next over Jakati got rid of Rohit before an amazing sequence that saw four - four run-out chances being fluffed off one ball. Smith hit it to deep point, Jakati couldn't collect the return, Badrinath backing up, threw it back to Jakati who again didn't collect the throw but broke the stumps with Smith and non-striker T Suman almost at the same end; Jakati then picked up the ball and tried to hand it to Badrinath, who had moved to the stumps but flicked it wide of him.

The bowler had his revenge the same over, though, when he trapped Smith in front for 49. That effectively ended Deccan's chase, the rest of the wickets a blur as the innings folded by the 15th over.

Chennai's win was built on their batting, though, as they won the toss and piled on a target which, by this tournament's standards, was way above par. Dhoni, having said before this match that his form was "pathetic", addressed the issue by promoting himself to No. 3 and the quality time spent in the middle helped recover his form.

The start provided by Matthew Hayden and M Vijay gave Chennai and Dhoni the impetus. Hayden feasted on some wayward bowling by biffing deliveries over the off side and walking down the pitch to set the bowlers off their rhythm. Suresh Raina matched Hayden in terms of power and intimidation. After Suman helped Deccan hit back with the wicket of Vijay, his figures were torn apart by Raina, who clubbed him for three consecutive boundaries over midwicket.

Dhoni was already well set at the crease and a six off Pragyan Ojha that landed on the roof at long-on was a sign of things to come. The tentativeness which affected his form in the earlier games was refreshingly absent as he kept busy at the cease, pushing the singles and bludgeoning the bowlers down the ground with his unconventional, yet powerful checked drives. He hammered Harris down the ground like a cannon and took on the same bowler for a reverse sweep that found the boundary. He reached his half-century with a savage pull off RP in the final over and led his team to a score that later exposed the shortcomings of the side heading the table when the match started. It ended, of course, with another team shooting to the top.

Jakati spins Chennai to victory

Gautam Gambhir, leading a Delhi Daredevils side missing two big players, opted to field on a pitch with plenty of run and 20 overs later looked a pleased captain. His quick bowlers sent back Matthew Hayden before he could really run riot, snapped a dangerous stand before it bolted, and checked Chennai Super Kings' big bats during the slog. From 112 for 2 in the 13th over, Chennai folded for 163 and Delhi, despite not having Virender Sehwag tonight, will come out with the momentum in their possession.

Delhi hardly got anything wrong in the field. Gambhir's decision at the toss turned out to be smart one, with Ashish Nehra and Pradeep Sangwan striking early and Nehra and Dirk Nannes hurting Chennai toward the end. Nehra got plenty of bounce early on, despite being tonked for six by Hayden, and used the short ball to intimidate Suresh Raina and snap wickets. Nannes returned for a second spell and found more than an extra yard of pace, touching 145ks regularly. With Daniel Vettori surprisingly left out the spinners backed the fast bowlers and the field placing was superb, with Tillakaratne Dilshan taking two catches just inside the ropes.

Chennai had first use of a good a pitch but didn't cash in. M Vijay replaced an out-of-sorts Parthiv Patel as opener but himself looked a Twenty20 misfit before Nehra tested him with a short ball and drew a top edge. Hayden, knocked to his feet when he took a ball from Pradeep Sangwan flush on the sternum, kept swinging away but fell to the same bowler when he lofted to long-on.

A 66-run stand in 6.5 overs followed, shared almost evenly by Raina and S Badrinath. With the ball still new and the field in, Raina boldly went over the top, getting off the mark with a front-foot six. When the field spread and spin came on, he chipped and tucked the ball smartly into the gaps but trying to up the tempo was taken right on the boundary line by Dilshan.

Badrinath had taken his time, scoring his first seven runs off 13 balls, but dumped the first ball after the tactical break for six off Dilshan. In the same over he took Dilshan for four down the ground, before hooking, pulling and cutting Sangwan to and over the boundary in the next over. Another solid slap past point followed but, like Raina, Badrinath tried to take it up a level and was yorked by an alert Rajat Bhatia.

With Albie Morkel and MS Dhoni batting and Jacob Oram to come, a total of 180 seemed a distinct possibility but the quick bowlers struck as Gambhir made a good call. With Bhatia's slow medium stuff keeping a check on runs, Gambhir called back Nehra for the 16th over. Nehra immediately struck with the short ball, taking a return catch from Morkel. Nehra was impressive all evening, varying his pace and banging it in on a testing length.

Then Nannes was ushered right back for the next over and took out Oram, who fell pulling. Nannes then found himself on a hat-trick when Dhoni top-edged a quick delivery to cover. The hat-trick was averted, only for Nehra to take his third with a fuller ball. Shadab Jakati picked up boundaries off the first two balls of the last over but Nannes got a third and the last ball resulted in a run out.

Chennai, last year's finalists, haven't found the mojo needed for another run to the top and will need to emulate the example Delhi set in the field.