Thaindian News

Pune, April 15 (IANS) Jesse Ryder batted through the innings while Steven Smith played a blistering knock to steer Pune Warriors to a seven-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League here Saturday.

Ryder made an unbeaten 73 and Smith smashed 44 off 22 balls including the last 10 runs needed off the final over as Pune chased down Chennai’s 155 in 19.2 overs at the Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium here.

While Ryder held the innings together for his highest score in the IPL, Smith’s power-hitting towards the end saw the home team through after an intense battle with the defending champions.

Pune Warriors now lead the points table with three victories from four games while Chennai drop down to sixth place with three losses in five matches.

The Australian-New Zealand duo shared 66 runs for the fourth wicket after Robin Uthappa (10), Sourav Ganguly (16) and Marlon Samuels (8) departed to make it 90 for three in the 13th over with the team needing another 66 off 44 balls.

Ryder and Smith always looked like overcoming the target but Chennai managed to take the match right down to the wire.

It was anyone’s game when Pune required 34 off 18 balls but Smith went on all-out attack there on to clinch the issue for his team.

Smith hit three fours and a six in the 18th and the 19th over bowled by Dwayne Bravo (0/31) and Nuwan Kulasekara (0/38) to set up an exciting finish.

Chennai skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s gamble of giving the final over to medium pacer Yo Mahesh did not pay-off as Smith ended the match with a four and six off the first two balls.

The Australian all-rounder overall hit four boundaries and three sixes. Ryder’s hand was also equally valuable as his 56-ball effort included seven fours and a six.

Earlier, opener Faf du Plessis (43) and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja (44) mainly contributed to Chennai’s 155 for five.

The visitors slowed down in the middle overs with Dhoni taking 28 balls for his 26.