IPL Update from the iSport IPL Pavilion: Blistering innings from Suresh Raina (73 from 50 balls) and late blitz from Albie Morkel helped Chennai chase down a challenging total of 175, winning the match by six wickets and reaching the finals at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.
Chennai won the toss, elected to field and were on the back foot right from the start as Mayank Agarwal started off the innings with a boundary on fine leg off Morkel. He then hit Morkel for consecutive boundaries in the next over. A surprisingly quiet Gayle then got into the act hitting Ashwin for a maximum taking the score to 30 runs from three overs, but Ashwin hit back removing the danger man off the very next ball trapping him leg before wicket for 8. Agarwal meanwhile continued to score freely hitting Bollinger for two boundaries off the next over. Bravo and Ashwin restricted the batsmen to some extent giving just 21 runs from next three overs. Agarwal finally departed trying to up the ante holing out to long-on off Bravo as Bangalore were reduced to 65 for 2 from 9 overs.
The next two overs yielded just 11 runs and AB de Villiers then departed caught at long-on off the fourth delivery of 11th over after pulling Jakati for a six over mid-wicket two deliveries earlier. Luke Pomersbach joined Virat Kohli at the crease and showed some aggressive intent hitting Jakati for a six over long-off and then taking Bravo to the cleaners hitting consecutive boundaries and a six over midwicket scoring 17 runs from the over taking the total to 122 from 15 overs. Bollinger then cleaned up Pomersbach who tried to hit one across the line only to find his off stump out of the ground. Kohli meanwhile kept the scoreboard ticking and produced a big one hitting 19 runs off the 19th over from Morkel hitting a four and consecutive sixes and in process bringing up his half-century from just 36 deliveries . The pair of Kohli and Saurabh Tiwary added 42 runs from just 20 deliveries taking the score to 175 from 20 overs. Kohli remained unbeaten on 70 from 44 deliveries with five hits to the fence and three over it.
Chasing a challenging total of 175, Chennai got off to a bad start losing Michael Hussey in the very first over. Zaheer Khan caught him on the crease trapping him right in front. Sreenath Aravind then struck the second blow trapping Murali Vijay leg before wicket for five in the next over to reduce Chennai to 7 for 2. Suresh Raina and Badrinath batted cautiously adding just 24 runs from next six overs. The pair then targeted Kohli hitting him for 16 runs off the ninth over. Kohli had Raina caught at short fine-leg off the second ball of the over but it was declared a no-ball as the ball was above the waist height. Raina spoiled Vettori's good over hitting him for a six over mid wicket after the bowler had conceded only four runs from five deliveries. The pair added 63 runs from nine overs before Mithun had Badrinath caught at deep-cover for 34, reducing Chennai to 70 for 3 from 11 overs.
With 105 runs required from 48 balls, Raina took the initiative hitting Mithun for two sixes over long-off and extra-cover before Dhoni finished off the over with a boundary wide of long-on making it 23 runs for the over. With 82 runs required from 42 deliveries, Gayle bowled a tight over giving away just five runs, but the pair collected 19 runs from next two overs to bring down the equation to 58 from 24 deliveries. The next over from Zaheer Khan Cost Bangalore 20 runs with two sixes for Raina who brought up his half-century off 41 deliveries and a six for Dhoni who departed in the same over caught at long-on off a full toss. With 38 runs required from 18 deliveries Gayle bowled another magical over giving away just five runs bowling block-hole deliveries at will. That left Chennai with an uphill task of scoring 33 runs from last two overs and the batsmen capitalised on the inexperience of Arvind hitting him for 21 runs which included two sixes over long-on and long-off from Morkel off the second and third deliveries and then a six over mid wicket by Raina to make it 21 for the over. With 12 runs needed from final over, Raina scored a single of the first ball of Vettori's over, Morkel then hit a crucial boundary wide of long-on off the next delivery to bring the equation down to 7 from 4 deliveries. The next delivery yielded a couple before Morkel finished off the match hitting a humongous six over midwicket, winning the match by six wickets with two balls to spare. Raina remained not out on 73 from 50 deliveries with four hits to the fence and six over it, while Morkel's blitz of 28 from 10 balls included one hit to the fence and three over it.
Suresh Raina was named the man of the match for his magnificent innings of 73 from 50 deliveries.
Result: Chennai Super Kings won by 6 wickets (with 2 balls remaining)
Scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore: 175/4
Chennai Super Kings: 177/4
Man of the Match: Suresh Raina
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/hide comments
..raina 10 times better than kohli 
Show/hide comment form
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
