The Chennai Super Kings returned to their winning ways with a 10-run victory over the Deccan Chargers at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here. The defending champions are now fourth in the points table and will take on the Mumbai Indians in an away game next.

Earlier, Murali Vijay came out to open the innings for CSK along with Faf du Plessis after MS Dhoni won the toss and opted to bat first, while Ankit Sharma took the new ball for DC. However, Vijay’s (14) stay in the middle was short-lived as he holed out to Amit Mishra off Veer Pratap Singh after hitting a couple of boundaries. This brought Suresh Raina to the middle. He immediately got after the DC bowlers. Even du Plessis, who was dropped in Singh's second over, joined the party. The pacer went for 21 runs in the same over, which saw Raina (32 off 24 balls) clubbing him for two sixes. However, the southpaw perished while attempting to clear deep mid-wicket off Mishra only to find Abhishek Jhunjhunwala in the deep.

Later, du Plessis was caught by Shikhar Dhawan off Singh for 42. His 35-ball stay at the crease included two hits to the fence and one over it. After his departure, Albie Morkel joined Dhoni in the middle. But the South African lost his off stump to Jhunjhunwala after adding just 13 runs to the total. With five overs left in the Super Kings’ innings Ravindra Jadeja came out to bat. He top-edged Reddy to Sangakkara, while Dhoni (34 off 28 balls) was castled by Christain off the first ball of the last over after hitting Reddy for a four in the previous one. The next man in, Dwayne Bravo, was dropped by Ankit Sharma. In an over full of drama, Bravo (12* off 4 balls) made the most of the life granted to him by hitting a six over mid-wicket off the very next delivery; CSK scored 13 runs off it.

The DC bowlers did their best to keep the hosts on a tight leash, but it was the fielding that let the visitors down with dropped catches and half-chances.

Defending 160, Morkel claimed opener Parthiv Patel (1) in the second over but dropped Cameron White off the very next ball. Opener Shikhar Dhawan (36 off 29 balls) and White added 68 runs for the second wicket, until the former was run-out at the non-striker’s end in a freak dismissal. After White hit the ball straight back to Bravo, the bowler managed to deflect the ball onto the stumps successfully. The Charger’s skipper, Kumar Sangakkara, came out to the middle next and was sent back by Suresh Raina, who took a brilliant return catch diving to his right.

Although the asking rate steadily climbed, White continued his valiant effort with Daniel Christian at the other end. In the 18th over, he hit consecutive sixes off Jadeja over long-on and long-off, followed by a boundary a ball later. With 18 runs coming off the over, and 29 runs required off 12 balls the Chargers were still in the match. In the penultimate over though, White was run-out for 77 (off 53 balls) trying to sneak in a second run.

With DC requiring 20 runs off the last over, Dhoni handed the ball to Ben Hilfenhaus. Although Christian (27* off 24 balls) hit him for a four at fine-leg off the first ball, the experienced pacer took CSK to a victory and also picked the wicket of Reddy in the process. The Chargers could only manage 150 for five in their 20 overs.

Scorecard

Man-of-the-Match: Suresh Raina for his all-round performance that saw him score 32 runs off 24 balls and pick up one wicket for five runs in his only over