Hayden guides Chennai to easy win
A fabulous innnings from Matthew Hayden powered Chennai to a five-wicket victory over Delhi in their Indian Premier League clash.
Delhi couldn't recover from the bite of the Mongoose, as Hayden used his new-fangled bat like a sledgehammer to carry Chennai to victory.
Delhi's new skipper Dinesh Karthik won the toss and elected to bat, naturally, since the decision to field first against Mumbai a couple of days ago was a disaster. It looked like they had the bit between their teeth against Chennai with Virender Sehwag making light work of suggestions that wasn't fully fit.
At 102 for one after 11.1 overs, Delhi looked like they were getting their act together again as Sehwag clattering the bowlers all over the park. But from there, then hosts lost Tillekeratne Dilshan, Sehwag and AB de Villiers within five runs within nine balls and immediately they were consigned to a score that would not be enough, given the Kotla's new-found hardness.
Karthik also departed soon after as the bowlers began to close in and the underrated Mithun Manhas was instrumental in ensuring that Delhi got to a fighting total.
Top Performer: Matthew Hayden
But the fight ended as in came Hayden and his new pet. This contraption looked ridiculously small in the huge Australian's hands but appearances can be deceptive -- the piece of wood packs tremendous punch.
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Punch it did, as Hayden swung it at all of the bowlers. Ninety-three runs he scored off 43 balls with nine boundaries and seven massive sixes. Skipper Suresh Raina, also captaining for the first time, clubbed an unbeaten 49 and Chennai, despite losing a few quick wickets later on, cantered home to a win and two points, sending them soaring up the table.
Delhi were once again done in, in their home match, and suddenly things seems to be going horribly wrong with them. Chennai, on the other hand, are slowly but surely becoming a force in the tournament.
Teams:
Delhi: DA Warner, V Sehwag, TM Dilshan, AB de Villiers, KD Karthik, M Manhas, A Mishra, PJ Sangwan, DP Nannes, R Bhatia, U Yadav
Chennai: PA Patel, ML Hayden, M Vijay, SK Raina, JM Kemp, S Badrinath, JA Morkel, R Ashwin, L Balaji, M Muralitharan, Joginder Sharma
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