Hussey's quickfire 81 takes Chennai to 158 for four

Hussey continued his good run of form and made 81 off just 57 balls with help of eight fours and three sixes to set the platform for the Chennai total on a relatively slow MA Chidambaram pitch.

During his impressive innings, Hussey didn't get much support from the other end as star players Suresh Raina (18 off 17), S Badrinath (16) got out cheaply. Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni however remained unbeaten on 22.

For Mumbai, young Assam pacer Abu Nechim Ahmed turned out to be the pick of the bowlers with figures of two for 35, while Lasith Malinga and Kieron Pollard snared a wicket each.
Stand-in Mumbai captain Harbhajan Singh, who returned to competitive cricket today after recovering from his abdomen injury that he sustained in England recently, went for 32 runs in his four wicketless overs.

Contrary to the total, Chennai did not have the best of starts after opting to bat as opener Murali Vijay fell early, when a perfect Lasith Malinga yorker breached the India discard's defence.

But Hussey then steadied the Chennai innings in Raina's company as the duo shared a 30-ball 35-run second wicket stand before the latter was stumped in a stange manner by Davy Jacobs off Kieron Pollard's bowling.

Next man in Badrinath tried his bit by scoring 16 off 21 balls but failed to prolong his stay at the crease, caught by Rajagopal Sathish off Abu Nechim in the 16th over. But Hussey was in no mood to relent as after Badrinath's departure he took Mumbai bowlers, expecially Malinga for a leatherhunt.

The left-handed Australian batsman seemed in a ferocious mood as he picked up 14 runs off Malinga in the 18th over before perishing in the next in search of quick runs. Towards the end, Dhoni also hit three boundaries to help his side's cause.

Scoreboard of the Champions League Twenty20 match between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians here today:
Chennai Super Kings:
Mike Hussey c Blizzard b Ahmed 81
Murali Vijay b Malinga 8
Suresh Raina st Jacobs b Pollard 18
S Badrinath c Satish b Ahmed 16
Mahendra Singh Dhoni not out 22
Albie Morkel not out 2
Extras: (Lb-4, W-7) 11
Total: (for 4 wkts in 20 overs) 158
Fall of wickets: 1-28, 2-63, 3-111, 4-141
Bolwing: Malinga 4-0-29-1, Harbhajan 4-0-32-0, Ahmed 4-0-35-2, Symonds 2-0-16-0, Chahal 3-0-23-0, Pollard 3-0-19-1.