MS Dhoni lights up Eden Gardens

It proved a facile win in the end but it couldn't have been possible without an professionally clinical knock from MS Dhoni. Chennai Super Kings were wobbling at 55 for 3 in the 10th over when Dhoni joined S Badrinath to slowly change things around on a track with slightly variable bounce.

It wasn't the traditional hit-everything-in-sight Twenty20 innings from him as he first strove to settle in with dabs and nudges before freeing his arms at the end. As ever, he ran really hard between the wicket to keep rotating the strike.

It wasn't until the final delivery of the 15th over that Dhoni managed his first big hit - a six over long-on. And it wasn't till the 18th over that he really went berserk, hitting Laxmi Ratan Shukla for two fours and another six over long-on as he started to work his bottom-hand over time. In the next over, bowled by Shane Bond, he looted three boundaries that included a scorching flatly-pulled six. Badrinath too got in the act, pulling Ishant Sharma for a six in the final over.

Until the final assault from the Chennai duo, nearly everything went according to Plan A for Kolkata. Bond got to swing it at pace, Ishant probed with his seam movement, Murali Kartik was at his canny best, Angelo Matthews was at his nagging self and Shukla kept it really tight as well. But Dhoni's knock proved the difference between a below-par total and a defendable one.