Chennai Super Kings Beat Perth Scorchers

A disciplined Chennai Super Kings Saturday produced an all-round effort to defeat Perth Scorchers by 13 runs and brighten their hopes of earning a semifinal berth in the Champions League Twenty20.

Invited to bat, the Super Kings rode on Ravindra Jadeja’s 28-ball unbeaten 44 and Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s 16-ball 35 to post a challenging 155 for six. Ravichandran Ashwin then shone with the ball, returning impressive figures of 3/20 to restrict the Scorchers to 142 for seven in 20 overs. Dhoni hit four sixes while Jadeja found the fence four times and cleared it twice. When their turn to bat came, the Scorchers lost Craig Simmons and Ashton Agar with 26 runs on the board. While Simmons was foxed by Ashish Nehra’s slower ball, Agar had no answer to a quicker one from Ashwin. Captain Adam Voges and Mitchell Marsh put up a brief resistance before the latter was castled by off-spinner Ashwin. hile Simmons was foxed by Ashish Nehra’s slower ball, Agar had no answer to a quicker one from Ashwin. Captain Adam Voges and Mitchell Marsh put up a brief resistance before the latter was castled by off-spinner Ashwin. Sam Whiteman did not last long while Voges too fell after making 27 off 24 balls. At the start of 17th over, the Scorchers needed 58 off 24, but Nathan Coulter-Nile and Ashton Turner reduced the margin to 44 in the last three.

Just after completing a 33-ball sixth-wicket 50-run partnership with Coulter-Nile, Turner was run out due to Dhoni’s smart work, putting to rest whatever little hopes Scorchers had of pulling off a shock win.