Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni hit an unbeaten 58 while left-arm spinner Shadab Jakati took 4-22 on Monday to steer the Chennai Super Kings to a convincing 78-run win over the Deccan Chargers that takes it to the top of the Indian Premier League standings. Dhoni hit five boundaries and a six, sharing a 54-run stand for the third wicket with Suresh Raina, who faced 19 balls for his 32 runs at Buffalo Park. Matthew Hayden, the IPL's leading run-scorer, made a quick-fire 43 off just 26 balls while his fellow opener Murali Vijay chipped in with 31 as Chennai reached 178-3. Chennai's bowlers then removed Deccan's top three batsmen for ducks inside three overs. Albie Morkel, who claimed a remarkable 2-24 including a wicket-maiden, got the initial breakthrough with the very first ball of the innings, trapping Adam Gilchrist in front with a full length delivery. In the second over 21-year-old medium-pacer Sudeep Tyagi bowled Herschelle Gibbs with another full length delivery which deflected off his pads before hitting the stumps. Deccan was then reeling on 1-3 when V.V.S. Laxman attempted to flick the ball past midwicket only to be caught by Jakati. A fourth wicket stand of 72 between Dwayne Smith (49 off 23 balls), who was dropped while on 6 off successive Morkel deliveries, and Rohit Sharma, (21 off 20 balls), briefly brought Deccan back in the game. But the introduction of the spinners halted the Deccan recovery as Jakati removed both Smith and Sharma in the 9th over. First he had Sharma caught in the deep by Subramaniam Badrinath, then four balls later he trapped Smith lbw as he tried to sweep. Jakati then had Venugopal Rao caught by Muttiah Muralithan in the deep for 2 and bowled Australian all-rounder Ryan Harris playing across the line to reduce Deccan to 96-7. Sri Lankan off-spinner Muralitharan then helped cleaned-up the tail, taking two wickets in successive balls, Tirumalsetti Sulman (17) and Rudra Singh (2) both caught on the boundary by Murali Vijay. Raina finished off Deccan's innings by claiming the wicket of Pragyan Ojha. “The last overs in this tournament offer a lot of wickets to the spinners because the batsmen will be going for shots,” Muralitharan said of the spinners' success. “So if you get your line and length right wickets will come.” Brief scores: Chennai 178-3 in 20 overs (M.S. Dhoni 58 not out, M.Hayden 43, S.Raina 32, M.Vijay 31). Deccan 100 all out in 20 overs (D.Smith 49, R.Sharma 21; S.Jakati 4-22, M.Muralitharan 2-11, A.Morkel 2-24). – APToday's Matches 1330 Kings XI Punjab vs. Rajasthan Royals 1730 Delhi Daredevils vs. Kolkata Knight Riders __
