Dwayne Smith smashed eight sixes on his way to 79 runs as the Chennai Super Kings defeated the Delhi Daredevils by eight wickets in this evening's rain-interrupted IPL game.
The Super Kings won the toss and elected to field but failed to make an early breakthrough as openers Quinton de Kock (24) and Murali Vijay (35) both scored at better than a run a ball to get the Daredevils off to a hot start.
De Kock's wicket in the fifth over brought Kevin Pietersen to the crease and the former England batsman wasn't there long, getting bowled by Mohit Sharma on his very first ball.
Dinesh Karthik's quickfire half-century and a 58-run partnership between JP Duminy (28*) and Kedar Jadhav (29*) saw the Daredevils set a winning target of 179 for the Super Kings.
Brendon McCullum (32) lasted 11 overs as Smith dominated at the other end. McCullum's wicket brought Suresh Raina to the crease and he and Smith built a strong partnership that guided the visitors to victory.
Smith fell in the penultimate over to give Delhi hope, but new man MS Dhoni delivered 12 runs in the final over to seal the win.
Chennai have won six of their seven games in this year's tournament, while Delhi have a 2-5 record.
Pascal Lemesre
