Chennai:  Stand-in skipper Adam Gilchrist led by example as bottom-placed Deccan Chargers humbled Chennai Super Kings by seven wickets with two overs to spare for their second win in the Indian Premier League here tonight.

Leading the side in absence of injured regular skipper VVS Laxman, Gilchrist won the toss, marshalled his bowlers well and then top-scored for the side with a 36-ball 54 to guide the team to a morale boosting win.

Chasing 145,Deccan Chargers cantered to 148 for three in 18 overs with Scott Styris (36 not out), Rohit Sharma (23) and Shahid Afridi (20 not out) making impressions with the bat.

Today's loss completed a hat-trick of defeats for the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led side, which has been clearly hit by the exit of the Australian duo of Matthew Hayden and Mike Hussey, apart from the big-hitting Kiwi Jacob Oram.

The Deccan Chargers did well to restrict the Chennai Super Kings for a modest 144 for seven wickets.

And when they set about the task of chasing, though the side lost Herschelle Gibbs (10) early, Gilchrist, batting with a squash ball inside his gloves, looked in tremendous hurry as he went after the Chennai bowlers.

Protea spearhead Ntini bore the brunt of his wrath in the sixth over when the left hander hit him for a couple of sixes, with a boundary sandwiched in between.

Albie Morkel too came in for some harsh treatment as the Deccan Chargers score kept swelling. The pacer finally had his moment when Gilchrist went for a fierce cut, which found S Badrinath at point, who was seen wringing his palm in pain.

Gilchrist's brisk 54 came off 36 balls and was studded with seven boundaries besides a couple of sixes. 

Chennai Super Kings scored 144 for seven against Deccan Chargers in an Indian Premier League match here on Tuesday. Suresh Raina (32), Albie Morkel (29 not out) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (23) were the main contributors with the bat.

For Chargers, R P Singh took two wickets giving just 12 runs.

Earlier, Deccan Chargers' stand-in Captain Adam Gilchrist won the toss and elected to bowl against Chennai Super Kings.

Teams:

Chennai Super King: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain, wicket-keeper), Parthiv Patel, Stephen Fleming, S Anirudha, Suresh Raina, S Badrinath, Alby Morkel, Joginder Sharma, Makhaya Ntini, Manpreet Gony, Muttiah Muralitharan.

Deccan Chargers: Adam Gilchrist (Captain, wicket-keeper), Herschelle Gibbs, Rohit Sharma, Scott Styris, Y Venugopal Rao, Shahid Afridi, Sanjay Bangar, Arjun Yadav, Rudra Pratap Singh, D.P. Vijaykumar, Pragyan Ojha.

Source : IANS