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Hussey notches century in Chennai Super Kings victory

20/04/2008

Australian batsman Michael Hussey scored an unbeaten century to help the Chennai Super Kings win their opening match in the Indian Premier League.

The Super Kings defeated the Kings XI Punjab by 33 runs as the home side failed to keep up with the required run rate in Mohali.

Matthew Hayden got the Super Kings off to a brisk start with 25 of 17 balls but when Ifran Pathan bowled him Hussey took over the scoring in commanding style.

He hit eight fours and nine sixes in scoring 116 runs off just 54 balls to take the game away from Punjab.

Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the most expensive player in the IPL, could only contribute two to the total. But Hussey received good support from Subramaniam Badrinath (31) to help the Super Kings reach 240-5 from their twenty overs.

The Kings XI got off to a good start in their run chase but could never quite match the required 12-an-over.

James Hopes and Kumar Sangakkara shared their best partnership, getting the side up to 111-1 in the 11th over. Hopes had scored 71 from 33 balls when Palani Amarnath had him caught in the deep and Punjab's chances began to fade.

The incoming batsmen could not match his feats and when Muttiah Muralitharan had Sangakkara out for 54 the Super Kings cruised to victory.

In the day's other match Delhi Daredevils beat the Rajasthan Royals by nine wickets thanks to solid knocks from Gautam Gambhir (58) and Shikhar Dhawan (52).