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Pune: Suresh Raina underlined his tremendous utility as a T20 batsman, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni showed his amazing shot-making ability in the slog overs, and S Badrinath got out at the perfect time.
Dhoni (45, 16 balls, 4x4s, 3x6s) and Raina (63, 50 balls, 5x4s, 1x6) added 61 runs in just 27 balls for the fourth wicket as table-toppers Chennai Super Kings swelled their total from 52-2 in the 10th over to 164-3 against bottom-placed Pune Warriors at the Subrata Roy Sahara stadium on Tuesday night.
They, then, defended the total with zeal to win the game by 37 runs as the hosts finished at a disappointing 127 for nine.
With this success, Chennai has inched even closer to a playoff berth. One more win, and they can be assured of a slot.
Chennai again displayed supreme confidence and never showed desperation despite a slowish run-rate for the large part of their innings on a tricky wicket.
Pune did not help their cause by below-par ground fielding in addition to dropping a difficult catch offered by Raina on 16.
The target was not easy for Pune considering the lack of depth and firepower in their batting.
Raina's clipped four off Richardson and a slap single to long-on indicated that he was in the mood. Even luck seemed to be on his side. His hits landed short of boundary fielders. But he made Pune nervous by running well between the wickets. He and Badrinath had a combined 47 singles.
Earlier, the hosts opened the bowling with leggie Rahul Sharma. They had decided that Dinda won't bowl in the powerplay overs despite forming a decent partnership with Bhuvneshwar Kumar at this venue earlier. Dinda ended up conceding 41 runs.
Earlier, Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni won the toss and decided to bat.
Pune have made one change - Tirumalasetti Suman comes in for Mithun Manhas.
Chennai also made one change drop Drik Nannes in favour of Albie Morkel.
Teams:
Pune: Aaron Finch (captain), Robin Uthappa (wk), Yuvraj Singh, Luke Wright, Steven Smith, Abhishek Nayar, Tirumalsetti Suman, Rahul Sharma, Ashok Dinda, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kane Richardson
Chennai: Michael Hussey, Wriddhiman Saha, Suresh Raina, S Badrinath, Dwayne Bravo, MS Dhoni (captain & wk), Albie Morkel, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Chris Morris, Mohit Mahipal Sharma
Brief scores
Chennai Super Kings 164 for 3 (Raina 63*, Dhoni 45*)
Pune Warriors 127 for 9 (Mohit Sharma 3-21)
Result Chennai Super Kings won by 37 runs
Points Chennai Super Kings 2, Pune Warriors 0
MOM MS Dhoni (Chennai Super Kings)
