Thursday, April 24, 2008

Hayden Leads Super Kings To Victory



Australia opener Matthew Hayden was the lynchpin as the Chennai Super Kings saw off the Mumbai Indians by six runs at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
Hayden struck 81 from 46 balls as the hosts hit 208 for five after being inserted by Mumbai stand-in skipper Harbhajan Singh.
The Indians lost wickets regularly in reply and, despite contributions of 43 and 45 from Robin Uthappa and Abhishek Nayar respectively, they fell just short, reaching 202 for seven.
Hayden came to life in the third over, with a cheeky flick for four and a colossal straight six off the bowling of Shaun Pollock.
But Ashish Nehra put the brakes on with an over which went for just one, including the wicket of Parthiv Patel and Mike Hussey played on to Dhawal Kulkarni, leaving Chennai on 39 for two.
That brought Hayden and Suresh Raina together but, with Hayden struggling to get on strike, it was the 21-year-old who dominated.
He scored 53 off 37 balls in a century stand before holing out to Dwayne Bravo to give Musavir Khote his first of two wickets.
Hayden struck a succession of boundaries - 12 in total, to go with two maximums - before being run out by Harbhajan.
And captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (30 from 15) ensured the Super Kings' total went above 200.
Mumbai's response began poorly as openers Luke Ronchi and Sanath Jayasuriya fell early.
Robin Uthappa (43 from 36) steadied the ship before being bowled by Joginder Sharma and Palani Amarnath disturbed the stumps of Pollock.
Then debutant Bravo struck 24 off 16 before falling to an excellent catch from Jacob Oram diving forward to give Sharma his second.
A late burst from Abhishek Nayar (45 not out from 20) took the Indians close, but he had been left with too much to do.

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