Scorchers come up short in Chennai chase

Chennai Super Kings defended their relatively modest total with aplomb as they beat the Perth Scorchers by 13 runs in Champions League T20 action in Bangalore.

Adam Voges won the toss and sent the Super Kings in to bat, and the decision appeared to have been vindicated when they claimed two quick wickets in the third over.

Brendon McCullum was bowled for 11 by Joel Paris and just two balls later a direct hit did the trick as Suresh Raina was disastrously run out, having just arrived at the crease.

Dwayne Smith was next to depart, bowled by Yasir Arafat as Chennai slumped to 33/3 after 5.3 overs.

Some consolidation was needed, but Mithun Manhas would not last long either, dismissed for 18 by Brad Hogg, while Dwayne Bravo threatened to explore before Ashton Turner accounted for his wicket.

That left the Super Kings on 79/5 with just over 5 overs to go and seemingly on course for a mediocre total that could easily be chased down.

But Indian stalwarts MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja would save the day, added 64 runs in just 30 balls to lift Chennai to 155/6.

Dhoni finished with 35 runs off 16 balls, while Jadeja remained unbeaten on 44 off 28.

The Scorchers would still have backed themselves to chase down that total, but Ashish Nehra and Ravichandran Ashwin had other ideas.

The duo combined to rattle through the Scorchers top order in the first order to leave the Aussie side floundering.

Nehra claimed the scalps of openers Craig Simmons and captain Voges, while Ashwin’s superb spell saw him dismiss Ashton Agar, Mitchell Marsh and Sam Whiteman in quick succession.

The likes of Ashton Turner and Nathan Coulter-Nile did their best to revive the innings in the middle order, but the Super Kings’ bowlers managed to keep the run rate down.

Both Turner and Coulter-Nile were eventually dismissed, as Arafat and Paris played out the final over needing a miracle that never came.