World Of Sports

Put into bat, Chennai quickly slipped to 46-4 in the face of some controlled seam bowling in taxing conditons.

Shaun Pollock, another veteran in the Mumbai team, led the way with figures of 1-9 in his four overs, the former South African international finishing his miserly spell with a maiden.

Dhawal Kulkarni chipped in with three wickets including two in one over, Stephen Fleming playing on to depart for 26 and then Chamara Kapugedera falling for a second-ball duck.

It was left to skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni to come in and lift the Super Kings' run-rate with a partnership of 95 from 55 balls with Badrinath.

The wicketkeeper-batsman hit six fours and one six to finish up unbeaten on 43, though his team's final total of 156-6 never looked like enough.

Jayasuriya wasted little time in going after Chennai's attack, taking two sixes and two fours off one over from Albie Morkel that cost 21.

The left-hander almost single-handedly saw his team to victory, dominating an 82-run partnership for the first wicket that saw Tendulkar contribute just 12.

He reached his hundred, the second fastest in the Indian Premier League so far, with back-to-back blows over the fence and then finished the game with three successive sixes and two fours off Kapugedera.

Robin Uthappa was unbeaten on 16 as the Indians raced home to a fourth successive victory that leaves them on course for a semi-final spot.