Mahendra Singh Dhoni Storm In Ranchi, crushes Sunrisers

RANCHI: Finally, Mahendra Singh Dhoni's home crowd got to see first-hand what the world has known all along - that Mahi hitting the best of bowlers around the park can be an awe-inspiring sight.

Coming in typically with only five-and-a-half overs left against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Thursday, the Chennai Super Kings captain hit only one boundary.

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Instead, he decided to deal in sixes, hitting eight of them - five in one over off Thisara Perera - and finished with 63 off 19 balls, taking the team's total to 202 for four in the Champions League T20 match.

In reply, the inform Shikhar Dhawan and Parthiv Patel got the Sunrisers off to a flyer, putting up a 87 in 9.2 before Patel was run out on 36.

Dhawan, given a let-off on 35 by Jason Holder at midwicket, slammed R Ashwin over long-off for a six and clubbed the seamers with help of some innovative strokeplay.

Dhoni gave a preview to the show that followed when he hit Jean-Paul Duminy straight to the president's box off only the second ball he played.

Duminy would thank his stars that it was his last over because he avoided the worst. Poor Thisara Perera wasn't so lucky.

The over started ominously when the Sri Lankan bowled a wide down the leg side. Then Dhoni hit him over long-on when he pitched within the stumps.

That extracted another wide, and Ishant Sharma's misfielding kept Dhoni on strike. The next four balls went out of the park - over square leg, point, wide mid-on and third man respectively.

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Only Dale Steyn could keep the CSK captain under some control, conceding a lone boundary.

Darren Sammy bowled the last over and decided to go wide off the stumps so that Dhoni did not get it in his favourite area.

But that didn't pay off. MSD made good enough connection to hit him out of the ground twice over cover, completing his half-century off 16 balls.

The Dhoni show took the spotlight away from another Suresh Raina classic. The man seems to be on a mission to turn Ranchi into his home venue.

After hitting a match-winning 47 against Titans the other day, he delivered another clinical performance (84 off 57 balls) against a disciplined Hyderabad attack.

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- Unknown Updated at: Friday, September 27, 2013

Thisara Parera Storm Takes Sunrises Home

Thisara Perera was unstoppable. His unbeaten 32-ball 57 against the charged up Trinidad and Tobago showed his mettle. It looked a tough task for Sunrisers Hyderabad to chase down 161, especially after they lost captain Shikhar Dhawan early. But the Sri Lankan all-rounder guided his team to a four-wicket win with three balls to spare. T-T off-spinner Sunil Narine bagged four wickets, but his efforts went in vain for T&T in their Group B match at the PCA Stadium in Mohali.

Dhawan was going to be the key player for Hyderabad when they set about their chase; getting him out early was vital for T&T, considering the late evening dew that had the potential to derail the bowling side. After Dhawan and Parthiv Patel had put on 35 in four overs, Narine came on. He struck immediately, Parthiv falling for 17 as he sliced one straight to short third man. Ten runs later, Dhawan was out too, popping a return catch to Navin Stewart off a slower delivery.

At the 10-over mark, Hyderabad had reached 70. Their required rate had climbed to 9.1 runs per over. First ball of the 11th over, a run out accounted for JP Duminy. It was here that Perera walked in. He immediately revealed his intentions, smacking Stewart over long on for six off the second ball he faced. Two overs later, he swung Rayad Emrit twice over midwicket, once for four and once for six.

The wicket of Hanuma Vihari in the 13th over, bowled by Narine, brought Darren Sammy to the crease. Narine came back in the 18th, to bowl his last over, and dismissed Sammy and Ashish Reddy off successive balls. But Perera was still there, already on 48, having hit three fours and four sixes. With Narine's quota completed, the task of scoring 19 from 12 balls wasn't going to be too difficult; in the end, Hyderabad reached their target with three balls to go. Earlier, it was the turn of another southpaw in Darren Bravo to stamp his class all over the ground. With quick and decisive thinking and nimble footwork, Bravo played with swagger, taking on Ishant sharma and Amit Mishra in particular in scoring 66 off 44 balls. The 24-year-old was in his element and hit four sixes and five fours

With Bravo in such fantastic form, the others played second fiddle to him, content on giving him the strike. Evin Lewis and Denesh Ramdin scored 20s, but Bravo dominated proceedings as his side finished at 160 for 8.

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- Unknown Updated at: Wednesday, September 25, 2013