With a 48-run blitzkrieg followed by a fifer, Ravindra Jadeja helped the Chennai Super Kings seal their first victory of IPL 2012. His all-round performance helped CSK beat the Deccan Chargers by 74 runs at the at Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium.

Earlier, by rattling Murali Vijay’s off-stump in the first over, Ankit Sharma dealt an early blow after Cameron White won the toss and asked CSK to bat first. Dale Steyn then bowled a tidy couple of overs to give DC a good start. However, Faf du Plessis hit Manpreet Gony for a four and two sixes in the fifth over and collected 18 runs off it. 

But in the next over Daniel Christian sent back Suresh Raina as the southpaw's mistimed heave over mid-wicket rose high in the air only to be pouched safely by the bowler himself. du Plessis though, continued to milk the bowlers and launched Daniel Harris and Ankit into the stands. It was finally the highest wicket-taker in the 2011-12 Ranji Trophy, TP Sudhindra who claimed the South African off his first delivery in the IPL – caught at long-on as he tried to send the pacer over the ropes. And a while later Christain dismissed S Badrinath to add another scalp to his tally.

But Ravindra Jadeja, who had replaced du Plessis, took over where the former had left off after seeing a few overs through. He clobbered Ankit for a boundary and two huge sixes and continued his onslaught even as CSK skipper MS Dhoni walked back when Harris took a low catch at mid-off off Steyn. The left-hander’s 29-ball cameo ended as his left foot nudged the off-stump to dislodge the bails as he tried to guide the ball through fine-leg. He was also unfortunate to have missed out on his half-century by just two runs.

It was then Dwayne Bravo’s turn to entertain the crowd with a 18-ball 43* that included five hits over the ropes. This took the CSK score to 193 for six in their allotted 20 overs.

Chasing 194, the hosts got off to a slow start. Harris and Shikhar Dhawan put up a 32-run opening stand before Doug Bollinger claimed the former in the fourth over. With R Ashwin bowling a tight first spell, conceding only 12 runs in three overs, pressure started mounting on the DC batsmen.

A couple of overs later Shikhar Dhawan was caught by Bravo at deep mid-wicket off Raina bringing out the DC skipper to join Parthiv Patel in the middle. With the run-rate creeping up, the Chargers needed to take charge of the situation, but wickets kept falling at regular intervals. The over after Patel was castled by Jadeja in his first over, White found Raina at long-off after hitting Shadab Jakati for a six over the same region off the previous delivery.

Jadeja then dismantled Bharat Chipli’s wood work after being hit for a six, while Jakati followed-up with the wicket of Christain.  It was again Jadeja’s turn to deal two quick blows. The left-arm spinner, who could do no wrong today, then dismissed Manpreet Gony and Ravi Teja in the same over and then trapped Steyn lbw to finish with five for 16. Bollinger then finished the match with the wicket of Ankit Sharma to clinch a comprehensive victory for the visitors.  

Scorecard                                                                                               

Man-of-the-match: Ravindra Jadeja for his amazing all-round performance