May 27: The much-awaited win at home did not come for Deccan Chargers even in their last match.

Chennai Super Kings got what they wanted from the match here at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Tuesday. They secured a semifinal berth with a seven-wicket win, knocking Mumbai Indians out of the race. Their performance was no revelation but the fight put up by Y. Venugopal Rao and Ravi Teja was one.

The lacklustre bowling performance of the Chargers continued and the Super Kings reached the victory target of 148 with four balls to spare.

Coupled with the all-too-familiar fielding lapses, the hope of signing off with a win vanished into thin air for the Chargers. The target set by them was never going to be a difficult one but poor bowling made the Super Kings’ job easier.

When they bowled at the right spot, the fielders betrayed. Stephen Fleming benefited from the first such lapse in the first over itself. R.P. Singh got one to bounce dangerously off the good length spot on off stump and Fleming edged it. But Adam Gilchrist was not quick enough to pounce on it. The ball went through to the boundary. However, the New Zealander could not go much farther as Vijaykumar snared him in the fourth over with an outswinger.

Suresh Raina, who anchored the Super Kings’ chase with a 43-ball 54, was dropped by R.P. in the penultimate over. The ball went to Arjun Yadav, who failed to hit the stumps.

Had Raina been dismissed then, the match could have gone the other way. The southpaw ended the match with a straight six off Vinaykumar. His partnerships with captain M.S. Dhoni ensured the Super Kings were on course for victory. Even though the match was played till the last over, there was no real danger of the Super Kings losing because of that partnership. After the Chargers’ skipper Gilchrist chose to bat winning the toss, the Chargers got off to another bad start despite opening with one of the most dangerous opening pairs on paper. After hitting compatriot Makhaya Ntini for a four and a six off consecutive balls, Herschelle Gibbs threw it away slashing hard at a wide delivery despite seeing a fielder stationed at third-man boundary.

Gilchrist followed him in the next over, trying to go over mid-wicket but getting an edge to Manpreet Gony in the process.

Scott Styris came in and looked like having the measure of the bowling as he shuffled across the stumps regularly to find the gaps on the leg side, but he played across the line dancing down to the first ball of Muralitharan’s second over to be bowled through the gate.