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Suresh Raina worked his way to a superb 63 and Mahendra Singh Dhoni played an explosive 16-ball 45-run knock as Chennai Super Kings strengthened their...

Suresh Raina worked his way to a superb 63 and Mahendra Singh Dhoni played an explosive 16-ball 45-run knock as Chennai Super Kings strengthened their position at the top of the table with a 37-run win over Pune Warriors in an IPL match, here on Tuesday.A Raina anchored the innings with his 50-ball knock and skipper Dhoni provided the late fireworks as Chennai overcame a slow start to post a challenging 164 for three.

Paceman Mohit Sharma then rocked the Pune top-order in a fiery spell in which he dismissed Aaron Finch (15), T Suman (0) and Yuvraj Singh (5) from which the hosts never recovered and managed just 127 for nine.A Raina's electric fielding resulted in run out of Robin Uthappa (10) which left the hosts reeling at 43 for four inside fifth over.

suresh rainaAs if that was not enough, Luke Wright was run out in an unfortunate manner. A terrible mix up meant that Abhihek Nayar too was runout. Smith handed back a simple catch to Ravindra Jadeja a few overs later.A Earlier, Raina showed a lot of maturity while batting as he did the spade work along with S Badrinath (34) while Dhoni batted amazingly in his side's remarkable recovery later on.

After losing Michael Hussey (5) and Wriddhiman Sahara (13) early, Raina and Badrinath steadied the ship with a 75-run stand for the third wicket.A But it was 61-run unbeaten partnership between Raina and Dhoni for the fourth wicket that spoilt all the good work Pune bowlers had done earlier

It rained fours and sixes when Dhoni batted as Chennai collected 50 runs in the last four overs. Dhoni punished hapless bowlers with seven boundaries including three sixes, the last one coming off the last ball.

Raina helped himself with five fours and a six. Pune though began the contest well as young Australian paceman Kane Richardson and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar bowled a fiery spell in the beginning to subdue the dangerous visitors.Richardson knocked over Hussey in his third ball to give his side a rousing start.

Such ferocious was the attack that it took other opener Saha nine balls to get off the mark. The stumper though hit Richardson for a straight six and a four through cover region in the fifth over to break the shackles.

Brief Score: Chennai Super Kings 164 for 3 (Suresh Raina 63 no, MS Dhoni 45 no) bt Pune Warriors 127 for 9 (Steve Smith 35, Kane Richardson 26, Mohit Sharma 3/21).

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