Mohit Sharma scalped Delhi opener Virender Sehwag on the second delivery of the first over without a run on board.
Sehwag (0) edged Mohit to Dhoni, giving a dream start to Chennai.
Chand and Johan Botha tried to rescue the side from early blow. But after a 34-run stand, Mohit got Chand caught by Jason Holder.
Chand scored 16 off 12 balls with the help of two boundaries and a six.
Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni led by example with a typically aggressive 35-ball 58 to power Chennai Super Kings to a competitive 168 for four.
Batting first after winning the toss, Chennai rode on Dhoni's hurricane knock and his fourth-wicket 57-run partnership with Ravindra Jadeja at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
The skipper smashed two boundaries and four sixes and also added 37 runs in just three overs with Dwayne Bravo.
Dhoni whacked Ashish Nehra for 18 runs in the innings' penultimate over but the last over, bowled by Umesh Yadav (2/26), proved to be a good one for Delhi as he conceded just eight runs.
The Super Kings were off to a sedate start with both openers Murali Vijay and Michael Hussey mixing caution with aggression in the early part of the innings.
Vijay was a bit lucky as he was dropped by Kedar Jadhav off Ashish Nehra in the third over.
Hussey hit Irfan Pathan for two successive fours to get a bit of momentum for the home team, before Vijay hammered Johan Botha for two fours and a six over long-on to set the ball rolling.
While the maximum was lofted over the on-side, the boundaries were scored through the off.
Luck was again on Vijay's side as he survived a run-out chance, Jadhav being his saviour again.
However, the Chennai player was not third time lucky as a diving Ben Rohrer flicked the ball onto the stumps catching Vijay short of the crease.
Two overs later, Umesh Yadav snared the big fish as he bounced out Hussey who lobbed a catch to Virender Sehwag at short fine-leg.
Another danger man, Suresh Raina, soon made his way back to the pavilion after driving Roelof van der Merwe straight to stand-in skipper David Warner at extra cover.
CSK however could take comfort from the fact that Dhoni was still there in the middle. And he didn't disappoint his fans as he played a few loft blows to prop up the home side's run rate.
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