Shah, Duminy take Cobras to 145/7 against Chennai

Cobras, who at one stage looked set to score over 170, were done in by pacer Albie Morkel, who put the breaks on the visitors' scoring rate by claiming two important wickets.

At the end of 16th over, Cobras were comfortably placed at 124 for three, thanks to some brisk batting by Shah and Duminy, but once the former (45 off 38 balls) fell to Morkel, Cobras lost the plot, losing wickets at regular intervals.

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin got rid of Richard Levi (6) off his first delivery when he had the opener trapped to provide Chennai their first breakthrough. The Cobras slumped to 40 for two in the fifth over as Herschelle Gibbs (18) too departed, miscuing a Doug Bollinger delivery, but not before playing some exquisite strokes.

After the departure of both the openers, Dane Vilas (18) and Shah kept the scoreboard moving with occasional fours as the South African T20 champions crossed the 50-run mark in the seventh over.

As the batsmen were settling down, Dwayne Bravo bowled Vilas with a slower one that straightened after pitching. Vilas struck a four and a six in his 19-ball knock.

But the loss did not stop Shah from taking risk as he first plundered two consecutive fours off Bollinger in the 11th over and then hit slow left-arm orthodox Shadab Jakati for a huge six over long-on to keep the scoreboard tickling.

Shah and J P Duminy (29), who came at the fall of Vilas, took the team past 100 in 12.4 overs.

Duminy got a reprieve in the 16th over when Jakati dropped him off his own bowling, when he was on 29.

However, Duminy failed to capitalise on the dropped chance as he was caught by Jakati at short fine-leg in the next over off Albie Morkel.

Cobras were dealt a big blow when the in-form Shah too departed in the same over, caught at midwicket by Michael Hussey off Morkel. Once Duminy and Shah departed, Cobras struggled to get off the blocks against a disciplined bowling effort, led by Morkel as they scored just 16 runs off the last four overs.

For Chennai, Morkel, Dwayne Bravo and Doug Bollinger accounted for two wickets each, while Ashwin chipped in with one.