DURBAN: Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs clobbered the Chennai Super Kings attack to hand Deccan Chargers their fourth successive win in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Monday.

The duo hammered 67 off 34 balls in a spectacular opening stand as the Chargers surpassed Chennai’s 165-6 with six wickets and three balls to spare.

Deccan Chargers Skipper Gilchrist blazed 44 off 19 balls with five fours and three sixes. Gibbs remained unbeaten on 69 with six fours and two sixes to continue his side’s impressive run this year. The Chargers had finished at the bottom of the table in last year’s inaugural tournament.

Chennai, finalists last year, now have just one win from five matches with three defeats and one rained-off game. Chennai’s innings revolved around two whirlwind knocks

from veterans Matthew Hayden of Australia and Jacob Oram of New Zealand. Hayden hit 49 off 35 balls to remain the tournament’s leading scorer with 215 runs in five innings.

Hayden put on 64 in 39 balls for the second wicket with Suresh Raina (25) and 38 for the third with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (22) after Parthiv Patel had

fallen in the first over. Oram, who replaced England’s injured all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, smashed an unbeaten 41 off 29

balls with four boundaries and two sixes.

On Sunday, Kumar

Sangakkara and Irfan Pathan inspired the Kings XI Punjab to a 27-run

win over the Rajasthan Royals at Newlands.

Sangakkara (60) and Pathan (39) shared a fifth wicket stand of 75 to enable Punjab to post 139-6 on a slow pitch. Pathan then dismissed both Rajasthan openers in his first over

and wicketkeeper Sangakkara held two catches as the Royals made a disastrous start, crashing to 42-6. Despite a seventh wicket stand of 60 between Ravindra Jadeja and captain Shane Warne, the defending champions were restricted to 112-7.

Earlier, though, Punjab captain Yuvraj Singh must have wondered whether he made the right choice in deciding to bat as his side struggled to a precarious 48-4 after 8.2 overs. Sangakkara and fellow left-hander Pathan were the last two recognised batsmen and they batted responsibly to take their team to a respectable total. Sangakkara made 60 off 51 balls while Pathan hit 39 off 33 balls.

Rajasthan’s top order batsmen failed again, with Swapnil Asnodkar playing a loose shot and Graeme Smith edging a good delivery from Pathan four balls later. South African left-arm paceman Yusuf Abdulla also took two wickets in an over and Rajasthan’s chances virtually evaporated when Yusuf Pathan top-edged an attempted sweep against Piyush Chawla to be caught at short fine leg.