Chennai, Apr 26: MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings continued their dream-run in the tournament, winning their third consecutive match as they demolished Kolkata Knight Riders by 9 wickets here on Saturday. Matthew Hayden (70 n.o) and Dhoni (43 n.o) took their team past the modest total of 147 losing only Parthiv Patel.

Run-machine Matthew Hayden continued his rich form to score yet another half-century off just 38 balls with five fours and two sixes which helped his team register a comfortable victory against the Knight Riders. MS Dhoni gave able support to the burly batsman, smashing 27 off 21 balls in process. After 14 overs, Super Kings were 108/1.

Earlier, after putting up a record opening partnership (66 runs) in the IPL, opener Parthiv Patel (21) perished trying to hook a Ajit Agarkar delivery straight down to fine leg where Ishant Sharma completed a well-judged catch. Skipper MS Dhoni promoted himself in the batting-order to join Australian Mathew Hayden (39 n.o off 26 balls) who was going great guns, hitting boundaries effortlessly. After 9 overs the Super Kings were sitting pretty at 72/1.

Openers Mathew Hayden and Parthiv Patel gave Chennai Super Kings a flying start as they reached 35 without losing any wicket after 5 overs. Patel was playing on 15 while Hayden was batting on 11.

Former Indian all-rounder Laxmiratan Shukla played a vital innings of 41 to help Kolkata Knight Riders rake up 147/9, the kind of total which gave the bowlers something to defend. The Riders, who were tottering at 70/5, were helped by the efforts of the lower-middle order batsmen.

Apart from McCullum's cameo of 24 in the beginning of the innings, stumper Wriddhiman Saha also played well for his classy innings of 27.

Chennai Super Kings pace spearhead Jacob Oram notched two wickets off successive deliveries to send Kolkata Knight Riders opener Brendon McCullum and Ricky Ponting on a long walk to the pavilion. Knight Riders' score read 32/2.

Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and their captain Sourav Ganguly decided to bat. For the first time the coin fell in Ganguly`s favour in the tournament.

Kolkata Knight Riders innings: SC Ganguly c Badrinath b Joginder Sharma 12, BB McCullum c Raina b Oram 24, RT Ponting c Raina b Oram 0, WP Saha b Gony 27, DJ Hussey c Badrinath b Amarnath 0, Mohammad Hafeez c Joginder Sharma b Amarnath 16, LR Shukla run out (Dhoni/Joginder Sharma) 42, AB Agarkar c Muralitharan b Gony 11, M Kartik c & b Oram 3, I Sharma not out 4, AB Dinda not out 0 Extras; (lb 2, w 4, nb 2) 8 Total: (9 wickets; 20 overs; 99 mins) 147 (7.35 runs per over) FOW; 1-32, 2-32, 3-61, 4-64, 5-70, 6-98, 7-121, 8-127, 9-145 Bowling:JDP Oram 4-0-32-3, M Gony 4-0-40-2, P Amarnath 4-0-29-2, M Muralitharan 4-0-12 0, Joginder Sharma 4-0-32-1

Chennai Super Kings innings: PA Patel c Sharma b Agarkar 21, ML Hayden not out 70, MS Dhoni not out 43 Extras: (b 1, lb 4, w 12, nb 1) 18 Total: (1 wicket; 17 overs; 77 mins) 152 (8.94 runs per over) FOW: 1-66 Bowling: AB Dinda 3-0-25-0, I Sharma 3-0-26-0, AB Agarkar 3-0-19-1, DJ Hussey 1-0-10-0, Mohammad Hafeez 2-0-16-0, M Kartik 3-0-33-0, LR Shukla 2-0-18-0