CHENNAI – Suresh Raina's superb ton helped Chennai Super Kings take a giant stride toward qualifying for the knockout stages as they defeated Kings XI Punjab by 15 runs to win their seventh match on the trot in the Indian Premier League Thursday. Raina scored an unbeaten 100 in Chennai Super Kings' total of 186 for four and then the bowlers kept their cool to restrict Kings XI to 171 for six despite a brilliant counter-attacking partnership of 95 between Shaun Marsh, who scored a 51-ball 73 (8x4, 2x6) and David Miller (51 not out, 26 balls, 5x4, 2x6). The win took CSK's points tally to 18 from 11 matches and they are now all but through to the last four stage of the competition. The seventh successive win is an IPL record which they now share with Royal Challengers Bangalore. Needing 19 to win off the last over, Dwayne Bravo bowled intelligently giving away only three runs but more importantly took three wickets to finish with figures of three for 34. Marsh and Miller were on a ‘Mission Impossible' but 186 proved to be good enough for the CSK juggernaut to roll on. Brief scores: Chennai Super Kings 186 for 4 (Raina 100 n.o., Hussey 35) beat Kings XI Punjab 171 for 6 (Marsh 73, Miller 51, Bravo 3-34) by 15 runs. Delhi Daredevils won their second consecutive match at the Chhattisgarh International Cricket Stadium in Raipur as they defeated defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders by seven wickets and kept their play-off dreams alive. Delhi was led by David Warner who scored an undefeated 66 to see his team home. Earlier, the DD bowlers put on a good show restricting KKR to 136. Brief scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 136 for 7 (Rajat Bhatia 26 n.o., Irfan Pathan 2-36) lost to Delhi Dardevils 137 for 3 (David Warner 62 n.o., Brett Lee 1-26) by 7 wickets. — Agencies
