Cameron White's superb 77-run knock went in vain as Chennai Super Kings dished out a disciplined all-round display to notch up a comfortable 10-run victory over Deccan Chargers in their Indian Premier League match in Chennai, on Friday.
Electing to bat, Chennai rode on the contributions of opener Faf du Plessis (42), Suresh Raina (32) and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (34) to post a challenging 160 for six in their stipulated 20 overs on a slow track.
The hosts then returned to restrict the Chargers to 150 for five to move to the fourth position in the points table, still five points adrift off table-toppers Delhi Daredevils.
White blasted nine fours and a couple of sixes en route to his third half-century in four innings to keep Deccan in the hunt but the Australian didn't get as much support from the other end.
Shikhar Dhawan (36) and Daniel Christian (27 not out) were the other two contributors for Deccan.
Chasing 161 to win, the Chargers lost opener Parthiv Patel in the second over when he got an inside edge onto his leg stumps and was bowled.
Dhawan and White, however, steadied the innings and stitched together a brisk 68-run partnership in nine over but a lucky break through in the 11th over helped Chennai to put Deccan on the backfoot.
Dwayne Bravo broke the stand when he deflected a straight shot from White, in his own bowling, onto the stumps to find Dhawan short of wicket at the non-strikers end.
Raina then pulled off a stunning return catch in the only over he bowled to dismiss skipper Kumar Sangakkara as Deccan slumped to 85 for three in 12 overs.
With the required run rate hovering over 10 runs per over, Daniel Christian picked up a much-needed six over mid-wicket off Ben Hilfenhaus to bring up the hundred after White completed his half-century with a single in the same over.
Needing 47 runs off 18 balls, White blasted two successive sixes and a four off Jadeja to pile up 18 runs to narrow down the calculation to 29 runs off 12 balls.
Jadeja, however, made up for his poor over as his direct throw in the next over helped Dhoni to dislodge the bails with White marginally short of the crease.
Requiring 20 runs off the last over, Christian cracked a four in the first ball but new batsman Ashish Reddy (3) couldn't do much and was caught at the boundary line by Murali Vijay as the Chargers ended up 10 runs short of the target.
Earlier, Chennai's top-order fired in unison to give them a good foundation but their middle order failed to capitalise on the opportunity and were restricted to 160 for six at the M A Chidambaram Stadium.
After scoring 100 for two in 11.5 overs, Chennai failed to maintain the momentum and could fetch only 36 runs in the last five overs.
Murali Vijay (14) gave Chennai a positive start but his innings was cut short in the third over by Veer Pratap Singh.
Suresh Raina (32) and opener du Plessis (42), however, ensured they keep the momentum going and amassed 56 runs in the first six overs en route to their first wicket stand of 64 runs off 44 balls.
Raina looked dangerous initially and was particularly harsh on VP Singh when he blasted him for a four and two consecutive sixes in the fifth over.
Du Plessis, who was dropped in the same over by Amit Mishra, too played some handsome strokes, including a four off Steyn in the fourth over, a flick through fine-leg off Christian and a six off Mishra in the eighth over.
However, Mishra made up for the lost opportunity when he had Raina caught at the boundary line by Jhunjhunwala in the 10th over to break the rampaging parnership.
