Hussey guides Chennai home against defending champions

Michael Hussey's 95 from 59 balls helped Chennai beat defending champions Kolkata, by 14 runs, to soar to the top of the points table on Sunday.

Kolkata captain Gautam Gambhir was made to rue his decision at the toss, to put Chennai in to bat, as Hussey and Wriddhiman Saha, replacing M Vijay, stunned them with a 103-run opening stand.

Hussey began with a flick off a loose delivery down the leg side, and then hit L Balaji for three consecutive fours - two of them over extra cover, and one edged through slip.

Saha then went after his Bengal team-mate Shami Ahmed and hit him for two fours and a six in the fourth over. Hussey, at the other end, didn't spare Kolkata's trump card Sunil Narine. He smashed him for two fours in the fifth over.

Saha did the same to Kallis in the sixth over. The onslaught helped Chennai register their best Powerplay of this season, 67 for 0. Hussey reached his fifty in the eighth over and continued, unabated, despite Saha falling in the 11th over.

After adding 31-more to the tally, Hussey fell, off a long hop from Narine, agonisingly short of the milestone. But the damage had already been done as the platform set by Chennai's openers helped them post a formidable 200-run target.

"It's been a good run off late. We got to just keep trying to get the wins and get us to the semi-finals," Hussey said. "Kolkata had a good chase, but we got it at the end. It was tough conditions here, today, but I've played in hotter conditions in Chennai."

Chennai's captain MS Dhoni said that the team capitalised on Hussey's and Saha's innings. "Hussey batted well with Saha and Raina capitalised from that," Dhoni said. "Overall a good performance but there are a few areas we need to improve as I think we bowled a few overs that were really bad."

Shane Watson's unbeaten 98 from 53 balls helped Rajasthan beat Hyderabad by a convincing eight wickets on Saturday.

After James Faulkner uprooted Hyderabad's top order, with a five-wicket burst that restricted them to just 144, the experience of Watson and Rahul Dravid came to the fore. The duo countered the swing that was on offer and prevented the loss of any early wickets.

Watson strategy was simple, he played the ball late - dabbed it to third man and behind point - on a regular basis.

When the opportunity presented itself, Watson capitalised. He smashed Ishant Sharma for three fours and a six in the 15th over and repeated the dose - in the 16th - where he clobbered two fours and a six off Thisara Perera.

Watson added the finishing touches in a hurry as he struck Karan Sharma for a three consecutive boundaries to bring his side home. Rajasthan are currently third in the points table, with five wins and three losses.

"There was a little bit of seam movement in the wicket, early on, with the new ball," Watson said. "I knew I would have to be circumspect against Dale Steyn and Ishant Sharma bowling. But I knew we would need to target a few bowlers and it worked out well in the end."

"It was a very important game for us to be able to win. We knew if we could bat deep we had a good chance of winning."

Watson, who failed to strike with the ball, said he was a bit rusty coming off an injury. "I'm a bit rusty but it's nice to be out there bowling. Unfortunately I didn't contribute with the ball. But hopefully it won't take much longer."