Smith guides Chennai to fourth win of tournament

Dwayne Smith top-scored with a quickfire 66 from just 46 balls to help Chennai beat Hyderabad by five wickets in the Indian T20 league match played on Sunday.

Hyderabad's batsmen struggled to score freely on a slow Sharjah pitch, after they chose to bat first. Darren Sammy and Karn Sharma's late onslaught propelled them to a respectable 145.

Chennai, in reply, were off to a solid start and openers Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum scored at over seven runs an over, in the first five overs, to keep their side in the hunt.

The duo scored a brisk 85 runs for the first wicket, before McCullum was dismissed for 40. Despite his departure, Smith continued his attacking display and hit a four and a six in the next two overs.

Chennai then suffered a batting collapse and lost Suresh Raina, in the 14th over, and Smith and Faf du Plessis an over later. Chennai needed 19 runs from 24 balls and hoped captain MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja would steer them home.

Jadeja fell in the 19th over but Dhoni and Mithun Manas added the finishing touches to what was a clinical chase.

"The plan was to stay calm and be positive and avoid worrying about anything, we could catch up anytime," Smith said. "We tried to get as much runs early up and made it easier for the other guys."

Dhoni said that dew swung the match in Chennai's favour.

"I think the game really changed once they changed the ball, when the ball was not wet it started doing things until it got wet again. It was a decent total, the dew got worse, the opposition bowlers weren't able to execute plans."