CHENNAI, April 16 (PTI): Defending champions Chennai Super rode on a blistering unbeaten 83 from Michael Hussey as they thumped Royal Challengers Bangalore by 21 runs to bounce back after their last match defeat in the Indian Premier League here today.
Playing his first match of the tournament, Hussey smashed 11 fours and a six in his 56-ball knock to anchor Chennai to an imposing 183 for five after electing to bat at the M A Chaidambaram Stadium.
Chasing 184 for five for a win, Bangalore struggled throughout after losing three key wickets inside the first five overs before A B de Villiers made a last-ditch effort to snatch a win with a strokeful 64.
But the asking rate, which rose to nearly 15 by the 15th over, was too much to overcome and Bangalore could manage 162 for seven in 20 overs to slump to their third successive loss in the tournament.
De Villiers played some stunning shots, including a reverse-sweep six off Tim Southee, to make a match out of it before he was out in the penultimate over. His 64 off 44 balls contained five fours and two sixes.
Albie Morkel and Suraj Randiv took two wickets each for Bangalore while Tim Southee, Ravichandran Ashwin and Sadab Jakati scalped a wicket each.
Bangalore were at the backfoot as soon as they started the chase with two batsmen returning to the hut for just 17 runs on the board by the second over itself.
Opener Tillakaratne Dilshan�s poor run of form in the tournament continued as he fell for a first-ball duck, caught by Anirudha Srikkanth at mid-wicket region off Morkel in the second ball of the chase.
One-down Asad Pathan looked like he was not concerned by the early jolt and hit two fours and six off Morkel as if taking revenge for dismissing Dilshan.
Pathan�s brief aggression turned out to be flash in the pan as he was sent packing for 14 (off five balls) in the second over by Southee who bowled the batsman who played across while attempting a scoop shot.
Bangalore�s misery was compounded as the other opener Mayank Agarwal (7) departed in the fifth over with Ashwin striking in his first over.
Agarwal inexplicably went for a big shot without reaching to the pitch of the ball and ended up skying one to Morkel. Bangalore were 31 for three in the fifth over.
Scorecard
Chennai Super Kings: Michael Hussey not out 83, Murali Vijay c Khan b Ninan 31, Suresh Raina c Agarwal b Ninan 29, M S Dhoni c AB de Villiers b Khan 2, Albie Morkel c Agarwal b van der Wath 9, S Badrinath c Ninan b van der Wath 5; Extras: (b-1, lb-2, w-1): 4; Total: (for five wkts in 20 overs): 183; Fall of wickets: 1/51, 2/96, 3/147, 4/176, 5/183; Bowling: Zaheer Khan 4-0-33-1, Daniel Vettori 4-0-23-0, J van der Wath 4-0-49-2, Tillakaratne Dilshan 2-0-21-0, Ryan Ninan 3-0-31-2, Virat Kohli 3-0-23-0.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Mayank Agarwal c Morkel b Ashwin 7, Tillakaratne Dilshan c Anirudha b Morkel 0, Asad Pathan b Southee 14, Virat Kohli c Anirudha b Jakati 35, AB de Villiers c Anirudha b Morkel 64, Saurabh Tiwary c Dhoni b Randiv 14, Cheteshwar Pujara c Vijay b Randiv 2, Johan van der Wath not out 14, Daniel Vettori not out 2; Extras: (lb-4, w-6): 10; Total: (for seven wkts in 20 overs) 162; Fall of wickets: 1/1, 2/17, 3/31, 4/73, 5/112, 6/127, 7/145; Bowling: Albie Morkel 4-0-34-2, Tim Southee 4-0-32-1, R Ashwin 4-0-22-1, Suraj Randiv 4-0-24-2, Shadab Jakati 3-0-36-1, Suresh Raina 1-0-10-0.
