A power packed performance by an unchanged Deccan Chargers made the loss to Kolkata look like distant past. A presumably stronger Chennai Super Kings were beaten by 31 runs at the new look MAC Stadium. Set to chase a demanding 191, Chennai’s top-order was gnawed by the cunning Chaminda Vaas and then a disciplined show on the field and tight spin from Rohit Sharma and Pragyan Ojha sealed all escape routes for the hosts.

Rohit was brought in the second over, the game plan was clear: to have more overs from Vaas and R.P. Singh towards the end. Opener M. Vijay ungainly heave saw his citadel re-arranged. Suresh Raina left swiftly after a sweetly timed six. Matthew Hayden tried to get innovative when the length asked for a straighter bat. With three wickets gone quickly, the hosts were staring down the wrong end.

Ojha is not held high by Adam Gilchrist without a reason. The left-arm spinner proved there is space for guile and flight in T20. S. Badrinath was snapped by R.P. Singh when he tried to go inside out. Justin Kemp was beaten in flight after he danced down and the ball dipped.

Dhoni kept the partisan crowd interested with a few lusty hits but the damage had been done. Andrew Symonds breached Dhoni’s defence and then even the eternal optimist had to accept the script.

Earlier, Chargers won a good toss and sea of yellow went pale swiftly as Gilchrist (38 off 17 balls) continued from where he left in Navi Mumbai. After a quiet first over where V.V.S. Laxman collected a streaky boundary off Albie Morkel, it was carnage from the skipper.

The bat grew broader as Sudeep Tyagi suffered. The clean bat swing pushed the ball over the ropes twice.

Morkel dropped Gilchrist off his own bowling. The run flow continued. The trade mark pull was executed to perfection; the first three overs had produced 41 runs. Dhoni was forced to bring his spinners Muttiah Muralitharan and R. Ashwin even with the field restrictions on. Rotating the bowlers was the only option and Dhoni fell in line.

The trajectory from Murali was a give away with the deep mid-wicket and deep square leg in place. Just when Chargers looked like running away with the game, Ashwin got one to turn enough to beat an advancing Gilchrist.

Inertia did Laxman in off the next ball as Raina’s sharp return from mid-wicket found the batsman short. The power play produced 57 and the platform for a competitive score had been laid.