CSK had a less than convincing win in the opener against DD, but they made up for it in style by overpowering SRH as the Chennai crowd were treated to some big hitting from McCullum and Dhoni. In fact, the Kiwi skipper scored his first IPL hundred since the mammoth 158 agaist RCB in the inaugral match of IPL. Dhoni joined in later on and helped CSK cross the 200 run mark, setting up a comfortable win. It was always going to be a steep chase, and keeping Kane Williamson at no 6 was never going to help their cause.
Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat first, much to the joy of the home support. Smith and McCullum gave them a flying start as they 75 in the first eight overs. McCullum in particular was severe on Ishant Sharma and tall paceman's frequent overstepping was not helping things either. Smith and Raina who followed were both run out and in came Dhoni. Dhoni took on the mantle from then on enjoying a 63 run partnership of which only 9 runs were contributed by the Kiwi batsman.A quickfire 53 of 29 balls saw the danger of McCullum missing out on a well deserved century. But Jadeja sacrificing his wicket and 11 runs of the last 3 balls of the innings ensured he reached the 3 figure mark off 56 balls.Only Ravi Bopara managed to keep the Chennai scoring in check with his off cutters.
Warner and Shikar Dhawan in particular started off solidly with some neat shots to the boundary but once the Indian southpaw fell, the runs never came at the required rate. David Warner was a subdued figure, and some intelligent bowling by Dwayne Bravo and Ashwin never allowed him to cut loose. Why Kane Williamson wasn't brought in earlier is anybody's guess, but simply put the target was always beyond reach.SRH never looked to pose a serious threat as CSK enjoyed a comfortable win
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