Brendon McCullum blazed his way to the tournament's first century as Chennai Super Kings defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by 45 runs in the Indian Premier League (IPL) to register their second straight win.
Electing to bat, the Super Kings posted 209 for four and then restricted Sunrisers to 164 for six in 20 overs at the MA Chidambaram stadium.
McCullum reached his century in the last ball of the innings, the belligerent knock consuming just 56 deliveries. He struck nine sixes and seven fours during his stay in the middle.
The New Zealand captain had stands of 75 with his opening partner Dwayne Smith (27) and 60 for the second wicket with Suresh Raina (14) respectively.
Three of the four wickets Hyderabad took came courtesy run outs. This on the one hand proved how good the David Warner-led side was on the field. On the other it also pointed out as to how poor they were as a bowling unit.
Ishant Shrama leaked 46 runs in three overs while Karn Sharma went for 51 in four.
In fact the lone wicket that went to a bowler (Trent Boult), was the result of a spectacular catch, Warner cutting short his counterpart's stay at the crease with a smart catch at cover.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni smashed 53 off 29 balls while briskly adding 63 runs for the third wicket with the New Zealander. Dhoni, who smashed Karn Sharma for three sixes in the 18th over, hit the maximum four times besides picking as many boundaries.
Batting on 89 at the start of the final over, McCullum saw Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja being dismissed off successive balls before hitting a six and a four to reach 99.
Off a full length delivery by Trent Boult, McCullum jabbed it to the covers for a single to bring up a well-deserved century.
When their time to bat came, SRH were off to a sedate start with openers David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan putting on 30 runs in four overs before the Indian was sent back by Mohit Sharma.
Dhawan made 26 off 18 balls, while Naman Ojha (15) and Ravi Bopara (22) too could not deliver in the face of some disciplined bowling from the Super Kings.
Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was miserly in his four-over spell, conceding just 22 runs for the wicket of Ojha. Dwayne Bravo was the most successful bowler for CSK, returning economical figures of 2/25, while Mohit Sharma had two for 36.
However, it was Ishwar Pandey who took the most important wicket of Warner.
Warner, who top-scored for the visitors with a 42-ball 53, lonely battled in the middle even as the other failed to convert their starts. He hit three sixes and a boundary before he became Pandey's victim.
Kane Williamson surprisingly came into bat at number six and remained unbeaten on 26 from 18 balls.
