NAGPUR: The Deccan Chargers cruised to a comfortable 6 wicket victory over the Chennai Super Kings to keep the defending champions hopes of claiming a place in the IPL knock out stages alive.

The Chargers got off to a positive start after being set such a low target with Adam Gilchrist (7) and Monish Mishra (21) building a 32 run partnership before Ravichandraan Ashwin struck twice in the 4th over to remove the opening pair.

The Chargers lost Rohit Sharma (8) in the tenth over to leave them 61-3 as the home side suffered the same scoring struggles as the Super Kings experienced in their innings.

The loss of Sharma brought Andrew Symonds to the crease to partner Tirumalasetti Suman and the pair built a composed partnership of 46 to steer the Charger towards victory before Suman (55) was caught by Suresh Raina at long off.

The wicket left the Chargers needing another 32 runs from 23 balls and despite a few nervous faces in the home side’s dugout Symonds (27) and Dwayne Smith (13) remained cool as the pressure mounted to lead the Chargers to victory.

Having the won the toss the Super Kings got off to a great start thanks to Matthew Hayden and Murali Vijay as the openers built a quick fire partnership of 41 from just 28 balls before the Aussie was caught by Adam Gilchrist giving Harmeet Singh the early break through for the Chargers.

Raina was dropped by Mishra at deep square leg in the next over and the Charges were made to pay as the young Indian smashed three consecutive fours off the bowling of Dwayne Smith.

The Chargers made up for the dropped catch two overs later running out Vijay (23) who was made to pay for attempting a nonexistent second run to leave the Super Kings 65-2 at the end of the 8th over.

The Chargers continued to keep the pressure on the visitors as MS Dhoni (7) and Michael Hussey (8) both struggled to score on a slow wicket as the experienced pair were both dismissed cheaply.

Raina remained at the crease passing his half century and in the process he became the all time leading IPL run scorer having over taking Chargers wicket keeper Gilchrist.

The pressure mounted on the Super Kings after Raina (52) was caught by Rohit Sharma at the start of the 17th over givin Ryan Harris his first wicket of the innings leaving the visitors 122-6 with two new batsmen at the crease.

Thilan Thushara and Ravichandran Ashwin tried to build some momentum but the pair could only add another 10 runs to the Super Kings total before Ashwin (5) was caught by Harris off his own bowling to leave Dhoni’s team 132-7.

Harris picked up his third wicket two balls later to remove Thushara (8) who was caught by Symonds as the Super Kings lower order collapsed under the pressure to leave the Chargers well placed to chase an important victory.