Bangalore, April 28: In the end, Chennai Super Kings’ fourth successive win was a fine tribute to M.S. Dhoni the bludgeoning batsman and later Dhoni the astute and cool thinker.

The Royal Challengers rang in four changes, moved around the field with great zeal, kept things extremely tight in the middle overs and then they had Ross Taylor and a charged up Wasim Jaffer going with the bat. But they were still denied by a resolute Super Kings. The home team was almost there thanks to the duo’s 89-run stand in 7.5 overs, yet they found a way to lose. Super Kings won by 13 runs.

The crowd deserved every bit of the entertainment. The roar that welcomed Dhoni to the crease was fine proof. Medium-pacers Manpreet Gony (3/34) and Palani Amarnath (2/38) took vital wickets and played a pivotal role.

Chasing a gettable 179 the hosts were in cruise mode before a cluster of wickets in the end overs brought Chennai back into the match. An innings full of power from Taylor and another of substance and placement from the most unlikely of T20 openers Jaffer, did not deserve to end on the losing side. The Bangalore crowd cannot be faulted for booing Jaffer who played the first three overs in his usual Test match mould. Taylor’s big strikes were such an influence that it shook even a batsman as stoic as Jaffer out of his shell.

Earlier on a wicket were the ball stopped a bit, stroke-making was not easy. The obvious focus was on generating power but the Chennai Super Kings top-order in search of packing a punch failed completely in timing and placement. Suresh Raina was the only batsmen who looked at home until Dhoni transformed the innings with a knock that bordered on brutality.

A clean swing of the bat propelled by a strong bottom hand cut the Bangalore attack to shreds. The point of contact was immaculate, the bat speed was breathtaking. It was a calculated assault in the final three overs that changed the target from being good to competitive. The 30-ball 65 (9x4, 3x6) was a supreme effort. This was after the skipper had struggled early in his innings.

Dhoni treated Dayle Steyn like a club bowler in the penultimate over. A six that sailed over long on and four boundaries ushered in 24 runs. It came against a bowler who had looked literally unplayable in his first spell. The mayhem Dhoni created led to a change in leadership too.

Mark Boucher moved from the occasional field change to becoming completely in charge. Rahul Dravid was even banished to the sweeper cover momentarily.

Chennai were denied the usual robust start that they are used to in this tournament. Steyn curbed the usually free-flowing Matthew Hayden. Keeping the ball a shade outside the off-stump he eliminated the cut shot. Once Hayden was deprived of his scoring areas, he resorted to his usual tactic of jumping down the track to the seamers. After edging a four to fine leg of Zaheer Hayden chopped on to his stumps, Chennai were 22/1.

Raina’s run out was a set back but with what Dhoni orchestrated later, the loss did not look too big. Mike Hussey struck it out. It was not his best innings but the two massive sixes of B. Akhil towards the end sort of redeemed it a bit.