Chennai win big to extend lead

The Chennai super Kings romped to a hefty 77-run win over the Sunrisers Hyderabad on Wednesday, with Suresh Raina falling an agonising run short of his ton as he helped the team edge further away from the chasing pack.
The Chennai super Kings romped to a hefty 77-run win over the Sunrisers Hyderabad on Wednesday, with Suresh Raina falling an agonising run short of his ton as he helped the team edge further away from the chasing pack.
The Chennai side moved four points clear of the rest of the sides with the win, while the Sunrisers' hopes of entering the top four were dashed as their usually superb bowling attack faltered and allowed Chennai to score 223 for three. They could only respond with a lacklustre 146 for eight.
MS Dhoni's side started with their foot full on the throttle and never really let up, with only Sri Lankan all-rounder Thisara Perera able to make a dent in their ambitions, taking all three wickets to fall.
The first of those was Murali Vijay, who scored 29 runs, including three sixes, within the first five overs before being caught behind. This left Michael Hussey to continue the charge with Raina, and they put on a memorable 133 together.
Hussey's superb form continued as he added yet another half century to his records, scoring 67 off 42 balls and setting Raina up for the final assault. Dhoni was the one failure of the knock, making just four, but Ravindra Jadeja was on hand to help Raina to his 99 not out off 52 deliveries.
The Sunrisers' chase started badly, with the loss of Shikhar Dhawan with the score on 11, and never really recovered. Parthiv Patel was the top scorer with 44, but no-one stuck around long enough to help him get close to the formidable score.
Only three other batsmen reached double figures, including the impressive Perera, but the Chennai bowlers shared the spoils between them to ensure the two points.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: P Patel, S Dhawan, K Sangakkara, H Vihari, T Perera, D Sammy, A Ashish Reddy, K Sharma, A Mishra, D Steyn, I Sharma
Chennai Super Kings: M Hussey, M Vijay, S Raina, S Badrinath, MS Dhoni, R Jadeja, DJ Bravo, C Morris, R Ashwin, J Holder, M Sharma