IPL 7: After Dwayne Smith's heroics, Dhoni wins it in style!

CSK's Dwayne Smith raises his bat after reaching his 50

Sharjah: Super Kings overcame some anxious moments before huffing and puffing to a five-wicket win over a fighting Sunrisers Hyderabad in a thrilling Indian Premier League match here yesterday.

CSK's Dwayne Smith raises his bat after reaching his 50

Chasing 146 for their fourth win in a row, Chennai achieved the target with three balls to spare as openers Dwayne Smith (66) and Brendon McCullum (40) laid a solid foundation with their 85-run partnership in 10.5 overs. Smith and McCullum made batting look easy as they struck the ball effortlessly even as all other batsmen struggled on a difficult wicket.

Hiccups
Chennai were cruising at one stage, needing just 22 runs from the last five overs with eight wickets in hand, but paceman Bhuvaneshwar Kumar changed the complexion of the game by dismissing Smith and Faf du Plessis (0) off consecutive deliveries in the 16th over. Ishant Sharma got rid of Ravindra Jadeja in the 19th over to cause ripples in the Chennai camp.

End it like MSD
CSK needed six runs off the last over, bowled by Amit Mishra, and skipper MS Dhoni finished it off in style, dismissing a full toss to square leg boundary. Smith anchored the CSK chase with his 46-ball knock that was embellished with five sixes and four shots to the fence.

Brief scores
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 145 for 5 in 20 overs (Aaron Finch 44, KL Rahul 25, Darren Sammy 23 not out; Ben Hilfenhaus 2-32, Mohit Sharma 2-27) lost to
Chennai Super Kings: 146 for 5 in 19.3 overs (Dwayne Smith 66, Brendon McCullum 40; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2-23, Ishant Sharma 2-37) by five wickets.

Figure Trigger
85: The number of runs West Indian Dwayne Smith and New Zealander Brendon McCullum put on in Chennai Super Kings' opening stand last night in Sharjah

51.00: Sunrisers' Aaron Finch's batting average in IPL-7 so far. In four games, the Aussie has scored 153 runs.