IPL 6: Chennai Super Kings beat Pune for sixth consecutive IPL win

Pune - Pune Warriors poor run the Indian Premier League (IPL) continued as they suffered their fifth consecutive loss going down to two-time champions and table toppers Chennai Super Kings by 37-runs at the Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium here Tuesday.

Super Kings’ sixth consecutive win helped them consolidate their position at the top of the table with 14 points from nine matches while Pune Warriors are languishing at the bottom of the table with four points also from nine matches.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni again led from the front with an unbeaten 16-ball 45 and Suresh Raina remained unbeaten on 63 as Super Kings recovered from a slow start to put up a competitive 164 for three in 20 overs. Dhoni, who smashed four fours and three sixes, was adjudged as Man of the Match.

Chasing a target of 165, Pune Warriors put on a dismal batting performance with Steve Smith top scoring with 35 and they managed in 20 overs.

It was a brilliant spell by fast bowler Mohit Sharma (3/20) that put Pune Warriors right on the back-foot early on and they failed to recover from it.

Sharma plucked out Aaron Finch (15), Tirumalasetti Suman and Yuvraj Singh (5) to derail Pune’s run chase. ASharma provided Super Kings the first breakthrough as he got rid of Finch in the third over with Dhoni taking an easy catch behind the stumps. Sharma struck again in the next ball to remove Suman trapped lbw.

Pune kept losing wickets at regular intervals and half the side was back in the dug-out in the eighth over for 55 runs and by the half-way mark they were left struggling at 68 for six.

Steve Smith came up with an 39-ball 35 that helped Pune Warriors avoid the ignominy of getting bowled out for less than 100 runs.

The lower-order also showed the hunger to fight back as Kane Richardson (26) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (26 not out) displayed a never say die attitude but their efforts were not enough to take the hosts through.

Scorecard

Chennai Super Kings

Mike Hussey Ab Richardson 5

Wriddhiman Saha lbw Sharma 13

Suresh Raina not out 63

Subramaniam Badrinath c Smith b Wright 34

Mahendra Singh Dhon not out 45

Extras (lb 2, w 2) 4

Total (for three wickets in 20 overs) 164

Fall of wickets: 1-6 (Hussey, 2.3 overs), 2-28 (Saha, 5.4), 3-103 (Badrinath, 15.3)

Bowling:

Rahul Sharma 4-0-27-1

Bhuvneshwar Kumar 4-1-24-0

Kane Richardson 4-0-35-1

Ashok Dinda 4-0-41-0

Abhishek Nayar 3-0-23-0

Luke Wright 1-0-12-1

Pune Warriors

Robin Uthappa run out (Raina) 10

Aaaron Finch c Dhoni b Sharma 15

Tirumalasetti Suman lbw Sharma 0

Yuvraj Singh c Dhoni b Sharma 5

Steve Smith c & b Jadeja 35

Luke Wright run out (Morkel) 2

Abhishek Nayar run out (Morkel/Ashwin) 250.00

Kane Richardson c Raina b Morris 26

Bhuvneshwar Kumar not out 24

Rahul Sharma c Raina b Bravo 0

Ashok Dinda not out 2

Extras (lb 1, w 4, nb 1) 6

Total (for nine wickets in 20 overs) 127

Fall of wickets: 1-26 (Finch, 2.5 overs), 2-26 (Suman, 2.6), 3-29 (Uthappa, 3.2), 4-43 (Yuvraj Singh, 4.5), 5-54 (Wright, 7.3), 6-61 (Nayar, 9.1), 7-92 (Smith, 14.2), 8-118 (Richardson, 18.4), 9-124 (Sharma, 19.3)

Bowling:

Ravindra Jadeja 4-0-26-1

Albie Morkel 3-0-20-0

Mohit Sharma 4-0-21-3

Chris Morris 3-0-21-1

Ravichandran Ashwin 2-0-20-0

Dwayne Bravo 4-0-18-1

Toss: Chennai Super Kings, who chose to bat

Result: Chennai won by 37 runs

Umpires: S Das and Simon Taufel (Australia)

TV umpire: Aleem Dar (Pakistan)

Match referee: Andy Pycroft (Zimbabwe)