The Chennai Super Kings have strengthened their second place in the Indian Premier League by overcoming Royal Challengers Bangalore by 27 runs in the 20th match of this year's tournament.
Bangalore won the toss and chose to field, soon removing Chennai danger-man Brendon McCullum for just four runs.
However, partnerships of 54 and 58 from Dwayne Smith and Suresh Raina and Raina and MS Dhoni respectively saw the Super Kings cruise towards a decent total.
They finished on 181-8 from their 20 overs, with Faf du Plessis hitting a quickfire unbeaten 33 off 18 balls to help the visitors past the 180-run mark.
In reply, the hosts started steadily with openers Manvinder Bisla (17) and Rilee Roussouw (14), but they both fell in the fourth over as Ashish Nehra took two of his game-high four wickets.
Virat Kohli (51) tried his best to rescue Bangalore's innings, but he failed to make a decent partnership with anyone else in the middle order as the Royal Challengers finished on 154-8.
Chennai have now won four of their five games, while Bangalore remain bottom of the standings with just one win from four games.
Pascal Lemesre
