Pietersen (left) and Flintoff are both former England captains

Andrew Flintoff came out on top in his Indian Premier League battle with Kevin Pietersen as Chennai beat Bangalore.

The Super Kings thrashed the Royal Challengers by 92 runs in Port Elizabeth to go top of the IPL table.

England stars Pietersen and Flintoff, the IPL's joint most costly players, were overshadowed by team-mates.

Chennai's Matthew Hayden hit 65 runs to Flintoff's 22, while Bangalore skipper Pietersen went for a golden duck as his team were all out for 87 in 15.2 overs.

"I think I got a little knick on it but such is life," said Pietersen over his dismissal for lbw to Muttiah Muralitharan, who returned figures of 3-11 for Chennai.

The England batsman had more luck with the ball, taking the wicket of Chennai's Parthiv Patel (30) with his first delivery to end his opening partnership with Hayden.

The pair had raced to a half-century partnership in less than five overs, and had reached 106 at the halfway mark before Pietersen struck.

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Pietersen also bowled at Flintoff when his international team-mate, batting at five for the Super Kings, came to the crease but played down the contest.

"It was a spinners and not a case of me bowling to Freddie," said Pietersen.

Flintoff was unbeaten in his innings and scored 22 off 13 deliveries.

The all-rounder also caught and bowled Bangalore's Ross Taylor and took the catch that ended Rahul Dravid's knock on 20 runs.

Jacques Kallis top-scored for the Challengers with 24.

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