Dhoni's Chennai off to winning start

The Chennai Super Kings overcame an early fright before trouncing New Zealand?s Central Stags by 57 runs in a Champions League Twenty20 match at Kingsmead Saturday.

Chennai, the star-studded Indian Premier League champions, gambled by batting first in conditions which favoured the bowlers early on and they slumped to 40-3 after 8.1 overs but recovered to reach 151-4 in 20 overs.

Subramaniam Badrinath (52 not out) and Anirudha Srikkanth (42) swung the game in Chennai?s favour with a fourth-wicket stand of 73, while Albie Morkel provided a late burst of scoring with an unbeaten 26 off 15 balls.

"We are playing in totally different conditions to India and we are off to a good start," said Badrinath.

"In these conditions techniques matter and Badrinath is one of the most technically sound guys in the side," said Chennai captain MS Dhoni.

Stags never looked like getting close, crashing to 44-6 before being bowled out for 94 in 19.1 overs.

"The young guys really stepped up," Stags captain Jamie How said of his inexperienced bowling attack, "but it was disappointing we didn?t turn up with the bat tonight."

Australian left-arm fast bowler Doug Bollinger put the Stags batsmen under pressure from the first over, while fellow pace bowler Lakshmipathy Balaji was the main destroyer, taking 3-20.

The most impressive bowler, however, was Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, who took 2-15 in four overs.

Muralitharan also had Stags top scorer Doug Bracewell "caught" twice - once off a no-ball and then off the free-hit delivery that followed.

The 19-year-old Bracewell, son of former New Zealand fast bowler Brendon, bowled at a lively pace to take 2-28 in the Chennai innings and played a spirited lower-order innings of 30 off 28 balls.