Johannesburg: Sydney Sixers relied on a superb
all-round show from Moises Henriques and a couple of stunning catches as
they thumped Chennai Super Kings by 14 runs in their opening Champions
League Twenty20 match here on Sunday.
Henriques
smashed five fours and three sixes towards the close of Sydney Sixers'
innings for his 23-ball unbeaten 49 to take his side to 185 for five
after being sent into bat in the Group B match. He later took three
wickets for 23 in his three overs to play the leading role in his side's
victory.
Chasing the big target, Chennai were on course till the
16th over as they needed 50 runs from the last four overs before the
Sydney side affected two stunning catches to end their innings at 171
for nine at the New Wanderers Stadium.
Suresh Raina, who
top-scored with an impressive 33-ball 57 which included eight fours and
two sixes, fell in the 17th over to a stunning catch by Steven Smith who
held onto a high ball just inches before the boundary ropes.
Captain
Mahendra Singh Dhoni was out two balls later as his pull shot was held
by Josh Hazlewood who dived forward to take a superb catch.
Chennai
had two substantial partnership in their run chase - 61 for the second
wicket between Faf du Plessis (43) and Michael Hussey (16) and then the
55-run stand for the fourth wicket between Raina and Subramaniam
Badrinath (6).
They began slowly in their run chase and they were
dealt with a blow as Murali Vijay was out for just one in the second
over as his stump flew cartwheeling while trying to hit a swinging full
delivery without moving his feet.
At three for one, Chennai had
to settle down for a while but they did not take much time to launch
their attack with du Plessis and Hussey finding the boundaries to keep
the asking rate under control.
Du Plessis punished Mitchel Starc
with a six in the fourth over while Hussey also found a boundary as
Chennai took 12 runs from that over.
Du Plessis then smashed
three fours off Pat Cummins in the next over which yielded 13 runs
before launching Hazlewood for a six and a then a four in the seventh
over.
It was an even contest till then, but Chennai lost two
quick wickets in successive overs with du Plessis and Hussey departing
in quick succession in the eighth and ninth overs respectively.
Du
Plessis walked down the wicket to hit a Cummins delivery out of the
park only to miscue and land at Mitchell Starc's hands at long-on,
thereby ending the second wicket stand of 61 runs from 6.3 overs. Du
Plessis hit five fours and two sixes from 25 balls in his 43.
Hussey was out in the last ball of the ninth over as his slog-sweep off Steve O'Keefe landed straight at Michael Lumb's hands.
Chennai
were 73 for three at the halfway mark with the asking rate climbing to
11 and a half per over and new man in Raina had to press the accelerator
straightaway.
Raina hit a six and four from an over off O'Keefe and Henriques while also smashing two boundaries off Shane Watson.
Raina
was so dominant that his partner Badrinath could just contribute six
runs in the four-wicket stand of 55 from 5.2 overs before the latter was
out.
Chennai needed 61 runs from the last five overs and 50 from
the last four but the dismissals of Raina and Dhoni, who scored just
eight from as many balls ended their hopes.
Ravindra Jadeja (2)
could not do much as he was out in the penultimate over while
Ravichandran Ashwin (18) and Yo Mahesh were out in the final over.
Besides
Henriques (3/23), Mitchell Starc grabbed three wickets for 31 runs
while Watson, Pat Cummins and Steve O'Keefe took a wicket each.
Earlier,
Henriques, who came at the 14th over as number six batsman, produced a
stunning late onslaught of fours and sixes as Sydney Sixers posted a big
total of 185 for five after being sent into bat. His onslaught took the
Sixers from 124 for four at the end of 16th over to 185 for five.
He
was joined in the exhibition of strokeplay for a brief period by Smith
(26 off 17) balls. The duo shared 75 runs for the fifth wicket from just
6.3 overs.
World Twenty20 man-of-the-tournament Watson was
instrumental in a solid start for the Sixers with a 30-ball 46 which
included five fours and two sixes as he and Michael Lumb (18) were
involved in a quick 50-run stand in 6.1 overs for the opening wicket.
But,
run rate slowed down once Watson was out in the ninth over and the
Sixers were 82 for six at halfway mark. The Sixers were then jolted by a
double dismissal - of captain Brad Haddin (20) and Nic Maddinson (12) -
in the 14th over before Henriques' stunning show saved them.
The
onslaught began in the 17th over with Henriques and Smith hitting a
four each off du Plessis as Sixers took 13 runs from that over.
The
next over also yielded 13 runs with Henriques clobbering a four and a
six off Ravichandran Ashwin. But, the highlight of the innings was in
the penultimate over when Doug Bollinger was plundered for 22 runs.
Henriques hit Bollinger for two sixes and a four while Smith also joined in with a boundary.
Smith was out in the last ball of the innings off Hilfenhaus who conceded 13 runs for the wicket in that over.
Off-spinner
Aswin was the pick of Chennai Super Kings bowlers with figures of two
for 32 while Ravindra Jadeja and Hilfenhaus chipped in with a wicket
each.
Teams:
Chennai Super Kings: MS
Dhoni (c), R Ashwin, Michael Hussey, Doug Bollinger, M Vijay, Faf du
Plessis, Ben Hilfenhaus, Nuwan Kulasekara, Albie Morkel, Suresh Raina,
Wriddhiman Saha, Ravindra Jadeja, S Anirudha, Yo Mahesh, S Badrinath.
Sydney Sixers: Brad
Haddin (c), Patrick Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques, Michael
Lumb, Nic Maddinson, Nathan McCullum, Ian Moran, Peter Nevill, Stephen
O’Keefe, Ben Rohrer, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Dom Thornely, Shane
Watson.