World Of Sports

The Chennai Super Kings continued their flawless start to the Indian Premier League as they snatched victory from the jaws of defeat with a 13-run victory over the Bangalore Royal Challengers.

Chennai took six wickets in the final four overs as Bangalore collapsed from 142-4 to 165 all out to hand their opponents their fourth successvive win in the competition.

The Super King's total of 178-5 looked well within reach after Ross Taylor and Wasim Jaffer put on 89 for the second wicket. However, a combination of suicidal batting and accurate bowling saw those hopes crushed.

Blistering

Super Kings skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni had earlier bludgeoned 65 off 30 balls, and Mike Hussey continued his fine form with a blistering 47 as his side posted a strong, but extremely achievable total.

Bangalore started the game well and removed the dangerous Matthew Hayden (13) after the Australian dragged a Zaheer Khan delivery onto his stumps after attempting an ugly heave over midwicket.

Parthiv Patel (21) and Indian compatriot Suresh Raina (28) kept the scoreboard ticking, but it was the introduction of skipper Dhoni which sparked the Super Kings' innings into life.

After three towering sixes the India captain was eventually caught in the deep by Bharat Chipli off Zaheer, who took his third wicket to dismiss Hussey with the last ball of the innings.

Bangalore response

The signs looked ominous for the Royal Challengers when Chipli's middle stump was uprooted by Manpreet Gony for eight, as Chennai struck early with the ball.

Jaffer (50) and Taylor (53) then took the game by the scruff of the neck, peppering all areas of the ground at regular intervals - Albie Morkel in particular felt the full force of their punishing strokes as his opening two overs went for 24 runs.

Jaffer reached 50 before he was finally caught low down by Palani Amarnath off Jacob Oram in the deep and Taylor succumbed soon after when he drove a Raina delivery straight to Amarnath at extra cover.

Chennai seized the initiative from then on and Mark Boucher (4), Rahul Dravid (0), Virat Kohli (12), Zaheer (8), Kumar (6) and Dale Steyn (1) all made the walk back to the pavilion as the Bangalore innings imploded.