Chasing a daunting 203-run target, Darren Sammy fought cramp and the charged-up opposition to score an attacking 25-ball 50 while skipper Shikhar Dhawan hit a 34-ball 48 top of the order but their efforts proved short in the end.
Sammy looked determined not to go down without a fight but the pressure of mounting run-rate weighed heavily on Sunrisers as they finished at 190 for seven.
Such was the brutality as neither speed nor spin provided any challenge to Dhoni as he decorated his 19-ball knock with an astonishing eight sixes.
There was no mistaking the impact Dhoni's arrival had on the innings and no one could better understand it than Sri Lankan all-rounder Thisara Perera, who was smashed for five huge sixes in the 18th over.
Dhoni played a leader's innings of the finest order and, together with Raina, put on a 60-run partnership in just 23 balls for the fourth wicket. The last five overs produced 76 runs for the CSK.
Before Dhoni's arrival, the show belonged entirely to Raina and his powerful stroke-play.
Walking in to bat after the dismissal of opener Murali Vijay, Raina unleashed an assault on the Sunrisers pacers in the middle part of the innings, launching them over the mid-wicket and long-off boundaries with consummate ease.
Steyn was the most economical bowler for Sunrisers with a figure of two for 23 while Perera went for 60 runs from his three overs.