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Riding on the brilliant half centuries from Matthew Hayden and MS Dhoni, Chennai Super Kings defeated Kings XI Punjab by 12 runs in an IPL match played at Centurion on Thursday (May 8). Hayden smashed 89 off just 58 balls while Dhoni played a blistering knock of 56 from 27, which helped Chennai to score a mammoth total of 185 runs. The match was shortened to 18 overs each side due to rain and the application of Duckworth-Lewis method set a victory target of 187 runs for Kings XI Punjab.
Chasing such a challenging total, Kings XI batsmen put up a great display of batting but were stopped at 174 for 3 wickets. Earlier Hayden punished the bowlers of Kings XI and smashed eight boundaries and six sixes. He was equally supported by Dhoni who hit seven boundaries and two sixes. Both of them piled up a partnership of 100 runs in just 7.1 overs. Kings XI were scoring at a brisk pace with the opening momentum provided by Simon Katich (50 from 25).
Yuvraj Singh scored a quick 58 from 36 deliveries but that was enough. The match started to turn in favour of Chennai when Dhoni introduced Suresh Raina at the last stage. Raina bowled a miserly two-over spell that stopped Punjab's progress in the last few overs. With this win, Super Kings grabbed the top spot on IPL table followed by Rajasthan Royals. Both the teams have 11 points, but Super Kings has better run which helped them to hold the top spot. The teams will play against each other on Saturday (May 9).
