Matthew Hayden's commanding half century coupled with a disciplined bowling effort resulted in Chennai Super Kings' comprehensive nine-wicket victory over Kolkata Knight Riders in an Indian Premier League encounter in Chennai on Saturday.
Electing to bat in the battle of two unbeaten sides, the Knight Riders were restricted to a modest 147 for nine in their allotted 20 overs with New Zealander Jacob Oram returning figures of three for 32 for the home side.
The Super Kings surpassed the target with three overs to spare.
Hayden hit three fours and as many sixes in his 49-ball innings and was well supported by captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni who hit a quickfire 43 off 27 deliveries which was studded with six hits to the fence and two over it.
The duo shared an unbeaten 86-run stand for the second wicket after Parthiv Patel fell to Ajit Agarkar for 21 in the ninth over of the innings.
Dhoni, who promoted himself ahead of Australian Mike Hussey to number three, ended the run chase in style with a huge six off Murli Kartik as Chennai raced to 152 for one and the top of the points table.
Hayden, who would soon return home to prepare for Australia's series in the West Indies, was in his elements right from the start.
He cut and drove with impunity while opening partner Patel lived dangerously at the other end, repeatedly fishing outside the off-stump.
Under pressure of defending a small total, most of the Kolkata bowlers were erratic and expensive.
Earlier, an all-round bowling display saw Chennai Super Kings restricting Kolkata Knight Riders to a modest 147 for nine.
The home side seized the initiative with a double blow and the Kolkata team never really recovered from that.
Jacob Oram (3-32) was the wrecker-in-chief as the Knight Riders' big guns -- Brendon McCullum, Ricky Ponting, David Hussey and skipper Sourav Ganguly -- fell to indiscreet shots.
Only Laxmi Ratan Shukla held the innings together with a crucial innings of 42.
Oram started the slide dismissing McCullum and Ponting off successive balls.
McCullum was the lone Kolkata batsman to show some aggression in his 24-run effort off 12 balls. The opening stand of 32 (15 balls) between him and Ganguly remained the brightest patch of their innings.
Ganguly seemed determined to carry his bat through while wickets fell at the other end. But he too made an exit trying to clear Joginder Sharma over the covers. His 12 off 19 balls had just one four.
Kolkata's first fifty came off 30 balls but as wickets fell at regular intervals, the next 50 runs took 57 deliveries.
While Muttiah Muralitharan remained the most economical bowler with 4-0-12-0, P Amarnath claimed two wickets in four overs conceding 29 runs.
