Spinners bowled brilliantly to demolish the Brisbane Heat middle-order but Chennai Super Kings leaked too many runs in the end to allow the Australian side post a respectable 137 for seven in their Champions League Twenty20 Group B match, here today.
Heat's innings was in doldrums having lost six wickets for a mere 66 runs but Ben Cutting brought his side back in the game with his fiery unbeaten knock of 42.
Cutting hit five sixes in his blistering 25-ball knock and added 71 runs with Chris Hartley (31) for the seventh wicket to lend some respectability to their total.
Heats were 87 for six in 17 overs and reaching hundred was looking difficult but Cutting and Hartley snatched the momentum from CSK in the last three overs.
It all started in the Dwayne Bravo when Cutting smashed him for two sixes to bring up the hundred. A similar treatment was meted out to Mohit Sharma in the last over.
Hartley also played his part as he hit consecutive fours off Sharma before holing it out in the last ball.
The spin trio of R Aswhin, Ravindra Jadeja and Suresh Raina had done a brilliant job as they shared four wickets among them and gave away just 37 runs in their combined 11 overs.
CSK were in complete control of the match as paceman Sharma drew the first blood in the fifth ball of the match by having Dom Michael caught by S Badrinath in the cover region.
Albie Morkel dealt the Australians second blow by sending back skipper James Hopes (20).
Dhoni introduced Jadeja immediately after the power-play overs and the left-arm spinner responded with two wickets.
In the first ball he removed key batsman Daniel Christian, who lofted the ball straight into the hands of long on Michael Hussey, and in the fifth he had Joe Burns caught by Suresh Raina in the first slip.
Heats slumped to 55 for four and that could have been worse had Dhoni not dropped Chris Lynn off Ashwin in the next over. Lynn swung hard and top edged but Dhoni could not get his hands on to that as Suresh Raina watched.
However, Ashwin scalped him in his next over, again foxing him with his carrom ball as the edge flew to Jadeja. Raina came to the party by bowling out Chris Sabburg (2).
