Hussey stars in Chennai victory

CHENNAI, India, April 16 (AFP) - Michael Hussey cracked an unbeaten 83 off 56 balls to set up Chennai Super Kings' 21-run victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Saturday.

The Australian hit one six and 11 fours as Chennai made 183-5 before restricting Bangalore to 162-7 for their second win in three matches in the Twenty20 tournament.

Bangalore, who suffered their third defeat in four games, faltered in reply as they lost three wickets for 31 runs, including that of hard-hitting Sri Lankan opener Tillakaratne Dishan for a duck.

South African AB de Villiers top-scored for Bangalore with an impressive 44-ball 64, but received little support from the other end. Virat Kohli was the other main scorer with 35. De Villiers hit two sixes and five fours before being caught in the deep off compatriot Albie Morkel, who finished with 2-34. Sri Lankan off-spinner Suraj Randiv took 2-24 off four overs.

Hussey, dropped twice during his brisk knock, earlier made the most of the chances to boost the innings after Chennai had elected to bat.

He added 51 for the opening wicket with Murali Vijay and as many runs for the third wicket with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Vijay made a 21-ball 31 with two sixes and three fours, while Dhoni contributed a 16-ball 22. Suresh Raina was the other notable run-getter, scoring 29 off 16 balls.

Off-spinner Ryan Ninan and South Africa seamer Johan van der Wath grabbed two wickets apiece.

Brief scores:

Chennai Super Kings 183-5 in 20 overs (M. Hussey 83 not out, M. Vijay 31, S. Raina 29, MS Dhoni 22; R. Ninan 2-31, J. van der Wath 2-49) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 162-7 in 20 overs (AB de Villiers 64, V. Kohli 35; S. Randiv 2-24, A. Morkel 2-34) by 21 runs.