Starc plays major role in helping Sixers get off to a winning start

Henriques top-scored with an unbeaten 49 off 23 balls as Sydney made an imposing 185-5 batting first and he then claimed 3-23 off three overs as Indian Premier League superpowers Chennai were limited to 171-9 in reply.

Among Henriques’s victims were India internationals Suresh Raina, who had threatened to take his side home before being dismissed for 57, and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (eight) in the same over as the Chennai run chase suffered a setback it could not recover from.

In what was the opening match in Group B, Sydney were given a flying start as Australia star Shane Watson continued his good form from the World Twenty20 by clubbing 46 off 30 deliveries before being run out.

Captain Brad Haddin kept the scoreboard ticking over but it was the fifth-wicket stand between Henriques and Steve Smith that powered Sydney to a total that ultimately proved just beyond Chennai.

Henriques did most of the damage, smashing three sixes and five fours, as the duo added 61 runs in the final four overs before Smith fell to the last ball of the innings for 26.

Chennai suffered a poor start to their reply when Murali Vijay was bowled for three by Mitchell Starc but Mike Hussey (16) – one of three Australians facing their countrymen – Faf du Plessis (43) and Raina got the Indian side back on track and at 141-4 in the 17th over, the outcome remained in the balance.

But man of the match Henriques’s double breakthrough to get rid of Raina and the dangerous Dhoni proved crucial and Chennai, IPL winners in 2010 and 2011 and runners-up this year, fell short.

Starc took two more wickets in the final over to finish with 3-31 off his four overs.

An unbeaten century stand between Neil McKenzie and Quinton de Kock secured an entertaining eight-wicket win for Highveld Lions against defending champions Mumbai Indians at the Wanderers.

Mumbai had set their opponents a target of 158 to win and that total looked beyond them in the early stages with runs hard to come by.

But McKenzie (68 not out) and De Kock (51no) both steered the Lions to victory with seven balls to spare.

The Lions had won the toss and elected to field, but some wayward bowling helped their opponents reach a competitive 157-6.

Opener Dwayne Smith scored a useful 26 off 19 deliveries before his dismissal lbw by Chris Morris, while Rohit Sharma (27) and Mitchell Johnson (30) – on his debut for the Indians – also chipped in to boost the IPL team’s innings.

The Lions’ were 37-2 after 6.5 overs before McKenzie and De Kock began to increase the knots as they smashed Mumbai’s bowling around the ground at will.

The pair added 121 runs, McKenzie smashing 68 off 41 deliveries, including 12 boundaries, and De Kock’s 51 coming off 33 balls and featuring two sixes.