Badrinath shines for Chennai, Sharma wrecks Kochi

Subramaniam Badrinath hit an unbeaten 63 as Chennai Super Kings outclassed Pune Warriors by eight wickets Wednesday for their second win over the Indian Premier League debutants in two days.

In the other match of the day, fast bowler Ishant Sharma grabbed five wickets for 12 runs off three overs to fashion a 55-run win for Deccan Chargers over Kochi Tuskers Kerala.

Badrinath anchored the innings after the early dismissal of Michael Hussey to help Chennai overhaul Pune's modest 141-6 with three balls to spare at the D.Y. Patil Stadium.

Opener Murali Vijay (31) and middle-order batsman Suresh Raina (34 not out) chipped in with useful knocks to ensure a comfortable win for Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men in the Twenty20 competition.

The victory, Chennai's fourth from seven outings, saw them move to second place on the points table behind Mumbai Indians whereas Pune slumped to their fourth defeat in a row.

Yuvraj Singh earlier played a captain's knock, making an unbeaten 62 off 43 balls to resurrect Pune who were reeling on 83-5 after some incisive bowling by Chennai fast bowlers, led by Australian left-armer Doug Bollinger.

Bollinger (3-21) struck early, removing openers Jesse Ryder (19) and Mohnish Mishra in the fourth over before returning to dismiss Mitchell Marsh in his second spell.

Robin Uthappa resisted briefly until edging to Srikkanth Anirudha off spinner Ravichandran Ashwin for a cameo 31 that included two sixes and as many fours.

Pacemen Nuwan Kulasekara of Sri Lanka, playing his first match, and New Zealander Tim Southee took one wicket apiece, underlining a fine performance in the field by Chennai after having lost the toss.

Skipper Kumar Sangakkara top-scored with a 47-ball 65 to take Deccan Chargers to 129-7 from a precarious 20-3 but the game belonged to Sharma who proved to be virtually unplayable at the Nehru Stadium in Kochi.

The lanky paceman removed Parthiv Patel, Raiphi Gomez and Brad Hodge off the second, third and fifth balls of his first over before grabbing two more wickets for third-best IPL bowling figures ever.

His pace partner Dale Steyn took 3-16 as Kochi were bowled out for 74 off 16.3 overs. MUMBAI, Thursday

Brief scores: Pune Warriors 141-6 in 20 overs (Yuvraj Singh 62 not out,

R. Uthappa 31;

D. Bollinger 3-21) lost to Chennai Super Kings 145-2 in 19.3 overs

(S. Badrinath 63 not out, S. Raina 34 not out, M. Vijay 31) by eight wickets

Deccan Chargers 129-7 in 20 overs

(K. Sangakkara 65, C. White 31; Vinay Kumar 3-25, Rudra Pratap Singh 2-21) beat Kochi Tuskers Kerala 74 all out in 16.3 overs

(R. Jadeja 23; I. Sharma 5-12,

D. Steyn 3-16) by 55 runs AFP