Mohali: Mike Hussey and Murli Vijay batted beautifully to help Chennai Super Kings register an emphatic 10 wickets win over Kings XI Punjab in the Ipl encounter at PCA Stadium, Mohali on Wednesday. Hussey scored 86 off just 53 balls whereas Murli Vijay scored run-a-ball 50 to lead CSK to their first victory of this season. Earlier, the trio of Dirk Nannes, Chris Morris and Dwayne Bravo dismantled the Kings XI Punjab to a low total of 138 in 20 overs.
Chasing the target of 139, Hussey and Vijay started cautiously and added just 38 runs in power play. In the meantime Murli Vijay managed to survive twice, first a controversial from third umpire who ruled him not-out and then Adam Gilchrist missed the chance of stumping. However Hussey kept playing his shots with the aggressive intent and kept the scoreboard ticking. By the end of 10th over, CSK was in a commanding position with 65 for no loss.
Hussey and Vijay chased down the target in the 18th over of the match and gave CSK a thumping victory over Kings XI Punjab.
Earlier, Kings XI Punjab lost the toss and was put in to bat. They were off to a shaky start as they lost the opening pair of Adam Gilchrist and Mandeep Singh early. David Hussey and Manan Vohra, however, started rebuilding the innings and were looking good. But Vohra soon went out of patience and played shot off the ball that was drifting way outside the off-stump and got dismissed for 16 runs. Gurkeerat Singh and Hussey kept the scoreboard ticking to maintain a run rate of seven runs and added 66 runs for the fourth wicket before R Ashwin dismissed the Australian for 41 runs.
After that it was Morris and Bravo who winded up the Punjab’s innings for 138. Gurkeerat scored 31 runs off 26 balls. But the highlight of the innings was Dwayne Bravo who picked up three wickets for 27 runs while Morris and Nannes chipped in with two wickets each.