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Chennai thrash Kolkata

Chepauk - Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and batsman Suresh Raina revelled on a turning pitch as the Chennai Super Kings thrashed the Kolkata Knight Riders by nine wickets with 39 balls to spare in their Indian Premier League match in Chepauk on Tuesday.

Ashwin opened the bowling and produced a top-class spell of three for 16 in his four overs as Kolkata were restricted to a mediocre 139 for eight, and could easily have had a hat-trick with his delectable mix of off-breaks and carom balls turning both ways and befuddling the Kolkata top-order.

Fast bowler Doug Bollinger also claimed an early wicket as the Knight Riders crashed to 19 for four, but Manoj Tiwary and Angelo Mathews then shared a partnership of 73 in 10.3 overs to bring the Kolkata innings back on to more of an even keel.

Chennai easily weathered the early storm of losing Matthew Hayden, bowled by Chris Gayle, for a duck in the first over as Raina unleashed a hurricane innings of 78 not out off just 39 balls.

Raina hammered 11 fours and three sixes and, with opener Murali Vijay scoring 50 not out off 40 balls, it was clear Chennai were never going to be good sports and make a game of it.

Vijay and left-hander Raina added 137 off 78 deliveries and broke the second-wicket record for the IPL.

Raina stroked the ball superbly through the off side and was also ruthless in exploiting the leg-side boundaries.

The massive victory has catapulted the Chennai Super Kings into second place on the IPL log, leaping above the Bangalore Royal Challengers, Delhi Daredevils, Rajasthan Royals and Deccan Chargers. The quintet all have 12 points, but the Super Kings' run-rate is the best after the superb display in front of the Chepauk faithful.

The pitch certainly aided the spinners and Ashwin removed two of the biggest dangermen in his second over, having Gayle stumped for seven and Brendon McCullum caught at short-fine-leg for a duck.

Bollinger then seamed a delivery into Saurav Ganguly's pads and won a leg-before decision, but it was a shocker against the Kolkata captain because the ball would have missed a second set of stumps down the leg-side.

Ashwin then also had David Hussey (0) stumped at the start of his third over, wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni doing top-class work behind the stumps on a superb evening for the Indian captain. The next ball saw Mathews beaten by a big-turning off-break and the ball looping to backward short-leg, but umpire Simon Taufel ruled there had not been a glove involved, thus denying Ashwin a hat-trick.

The highly-rated Mathews went on to score a run-a-ball 48 and it says much for the 22-year-old's composure and maturity that he batted through to the final over.

The fiery Bollinger roared in and had Laxmi Shukla (17 off 10) caught flaying at a bouncer and Tiwary (27) was caught heaving Raina to long-on, but those are the prices you pay in the final overs after a poor start.

While Ashwin and Bollinger (4-1-15-2) were the bowling heroes, Muttiah Muralitharan flopped in the helpful conditions, the Sri Lankan ace taking one for 47 in his four overs. Albie Morkel bowled two overs for 14 runs, the South African leaving the field briefly thereafter.

Teams:

Chennai Super Kings:
ML Hayden, M Vijay, SK Raina, S Anirudha, MS Dhoni (capt & wk), S Badrinath, JA Morkel, R Ashwin, SB Jakati, M Muralitharan, DE Bollinger

Kolkata Knight Riders:
SC Ganguly (capt), CH Gayle, BB McCullum, DJ Hussey, MK Tiwary, AD Mathews, WP Saha (wk), LR Shukla, AB Agarkar, Iqbal Abdulla, AB Dinda
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