Kings XI Punjab chased 206 to beat Chennai Super Kings in a thrilling IPL contest in Abu Dhabi, Australian Glenn Maxwell top scoring with 95 off 43 balls.
Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith starred with the bat for Chennai, putting on 123 for the first wicket from just less than 13 overs.
McCullum went first for 67 from 45 balls, caught by Glenn Maxwell off the bowling of Akshar Patel, while Smith hung around until the 17thover, falling for 66 off 43 to Lakshmi Balaji thanks a catch from George Bailey.
Both Suresh Raina (24 off 19) and MS Dhoni (26 off 11) made decent contributions following the departure of the openers, while Dwayne Bravo bludgeoned a six at the death.
None of the Punjab bowlers ever looked like strangling the Super Kings batsmen, but particularly disappointing was Mitchell Johnson, dispatched for 47 from his four overs without taking a wicket.
With the bat Punjab lost both openers before the end of the third over, Virender Sehwag hitting 19 of 10 balls before Ashish Nehra knocked him over, while Chetshwar Pujara went for 13 off 10 deliveries, trapped in front by Ravichandran Ashwin.
But those wickets only brought Maxwell to the crease, who from the word go made it tough for the Super Kings bowlers.
Awfully dropped by Nehra on 37 and again on 77,, Australian Maxwell went on to play some excellent improvised strokes to keep his side in the game, supported by David Miller at the other end, who was himself dropped on 17.
Miller took on the baton when Maxwell was out with Punjab needing 39 off 26, smashing consecutive sixes in the 17th over from Jadeja to bring up his 50 and leave the chase under a run a ball.
And two fours in the 19th over from George Bailey settled the contest.
