What would have been on Chennai Super Kings’ wish list before this final? 1) Win toss on a slow pitch. 2) Great start by the openers. 3) Remove Chris Gayle for a duck. PS: While we are it why not knock out AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli cheaply? They got all that. Chennai produced a near-perfect game and mauled Royal Challengers Bangalore to lift their second IPL trophy.

M Vijay has rarely converted his starts this IPL and Michael Hussey hasn’t sparkled in the previous few games. So what they do on the day of the big finale? They amass a sizzling 159-run partnership to launch Chennai to a massive total at the Chidambaram Stadium. R Ashwin then derailed the chase by packing off Gayle for a duck in the first over. Game over.

It was the ease with which the runs flowed and the calm manner in which they were accumulated by the Chennai openers that caught the eye. There were several big shots but nearly all of them were in conventional zones. There was just one bad shot in the first 14 overs. Just one. In the 10th over, Vijay had just played a nonchalant flick that sailed just clear of a lunging Luke Pomersbach on the deep-midwicket boundary. He then tried to slog the next ball across the line and edged it to the leg side. The reaction of the players reflected their awareness of the need to keep adrenalin in check: Vijay shadow practiced a straighter arc of the bat and Hussey rushed across to have a long chat.

For the duration of the partnership, which lasted 14.5 overs, they complemented each other with contrasting approaches. Hussey punctuated his bunts, chips and drives with the occasional big hit – the highlight was a monstrous heave off Syed Mohammad that crashed into the roof beyond wide long-on. Vijay went the other way. He punctuated his flamboyant on-the-up hits with quieter punches for singles and twos. They both ran between the wickets hard and fast and the scoring-rate never flagged. Vijay grew increasingly tired but it was Hussey who fell first, swatting a full toss from Mohammad to long-on. By then, they had laid a great platform.

It was Vijay who started the mayhem off the final delivery of the second over with a special shot. It was a short-of-length delivery with little room for maneuvering, or so it seemed, but Vijay wafted it on the up and through the line for a flamboyant six over long-on. Hussey pulled the next delivery, from Zaheer Khan, over the backward square-leg boundary to launch the assault. They repeated that double-dose of sixes again. Hussey swung the final delivery of the fifth over, bowled by Mohammad, over the midwicket boundary and Vijay lifted the next ball, from Chris Gayle, over long-on. Chennai reached 56 for 0 in six overs and kept going from strength to strength.

They started their bowling in the same way. Ashwin just needed three deliveries to remove the chief thorn in their path. The first two turned sharply away from Gayle before the third swerved in from round the stumps and skidded on to collect the edge from an attempted cut. de Villiers reeled off a few big shots but was trapped by Shadab Jakati and Suresh Raina had Kohli lbw to sew up the game for Chennai.

In contrast Bangalore slipped on the little things that matter on this stage. In the Powerplay, there were three instances of fielders succumbing to adrenalin rushes and indulging in needless throws; one, from Saurabh Tiwary, even went to the boundary. Pomersbach could have done a better job in seizing that chance from Vijay in the 10th over, and S Aravind messed up an opportunity to run out Hussey in the 12th over. Vijay, the non-striker, had called Hussey for a risky single and Aravind, the bowler who picked up the ball at short mid-on, flung it wide at the non-striker’s end. There was another instance in the 11th over when the bowler, Mohammad, flung himself full stretch to his right but couldn’t hang on to a difficult chance offered by Vijay. It was that kind of day. Things just didn’t go right for Bangalore and everything went according to script for Chennai.

Sriram Veera is a staff writer at ESPNcricinfo

Chennai Super Kings beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by six wickets to reach IPL 4 final as Suresh Raina hit an unbeaten 50-ball 73 at Wankhede stadium in Mumbai on Tuesday.

Chennai chased down the 176-run target in 19.4 overs as Raina and Albie Morkel put up a 46-run stand off 18 balls.

Raina’s unbeaten knock was studded with 6 sixes and 4 fours and Morkel hit 3 sixes and a four in his 10-ball 28.

Zaheer Khan had Chennai captain MS Dhoni caught by Abhimanyu Mithun at long-on soon after Suresh Raina hit a 41-ball fifty.

Dhoni hit a six and 3 fours in his 19-ball 29 before falling to Zaheer.

Raina and Dhoni added 61 runs for the fourth wicket after Abhimanyu Mithun had Subramaniam Badrinath caught by Sreenath Aravind at sweeper cover.

Badrinath hit 5 fours in his 32-ball 34 and added 63 runs for the third wicket with Raina before falling to Mithun.

Chennai’s run chase got off to a bad start as Zaheer Khan and Sreenath Aravind dismissed their openers in the first two overs.

Zaheer struck first when he trapped Michael Hussey plumb in front of the wicket on the fourth ball of the Chennai innings for a duck.

Aravind then dismissed Murali Vijay leg before wicket in the second over to place Chennai to 7/2.

Earlier, Virat Kohli hit an unbeaten 44-ball 70 to power Bangalore to 175/4 against Chennai.

Kohli’s unbeaten knock was studded with 3 sixes and 5 fours and he put a 48-run stand with Luke Pomersbach to lead Bangalore’s recovery.

Pomersbach hit 2 sixes and 2 fours in his 18-ball 29 before he was clean bowled by a slower delivery from Doug Bollinger.

Chennai had seized the advantage when Shadab Jakati had AB de Villiers caught by Murali Vijay at long-on.

de Villiers hit a six in his 10-ball 11 before losing his wicket.

Dwayne Bravo had Mayank Agarwal caught by Doug Bollinger at long-on to place Bangalore at 65/2 in 9 overs.

Mayank hit 5 fours in his 33-ball 34 before falling to Bravo.

Ravichandran Ashwin gave Chennai an early breakthrough when he trapped the dangerous Chris Gayle plumb in front of the wicket.

Ashwin struck immediately after getting hit for a six.

Gayle hit a six in his 9-ball 8 before falling to Ashwin.

The breakthrough came after Chennai captain MS Dhoni won the toss and chose to bowl.

Both Chennai and Bangalore have the same playing eleven.

Teams:

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Daniel Vettori (Capt.), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Mohammad Kaif, Saurabh Tiwary, Luke Pomersbach, Sreenath Aravind, Abhimanyu Mithun, Zaheer Khan.

Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt.), Michael Hussey, Murali Vijay, Suresh Raina, Albie Morkel, Subramaniam Badrinath, Dwayne Bravo, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Doug Bollinger, Shadab Jakati.

Source: Times of India

Chris Gayle smashed an unbeaten 75 as Royal Challengers Bangalore topped the points table with an eight-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League on Sunday.

The West Indies opener hit six sixes in his 50-ball knock as Bangalore surpassed Chennai’s total of 128-8 with two overs to spare in their last league match of the Twenty20 tournament.

Gayle, who added 80 for the second wicket with Virat Kohli (31), finished the match when he hit spinner Suresh Raina for 11 runs off the last three balls of the 18th over.

Bangalore (19 points), Chennai (18), Kolkata (16) and Mumbai (16) have already qualified for the play-offs. They are followed by Punjab (14), Rajasthan (13), Deccan (12), Kochi (12), Pune (nine) and Delhi (nine).

Chennai skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni hit six sixes in his explosive 40-ball 70 not out but received little support from the other end, the highest stand of the innings being 42 for the fifth wicket.

Chennai made a poor start after being put in to bat as they lost four wickets for 22 runs in the opening six overs, with left-arm paceman Zaheer Khan dismissing Australian Michael Hussey and Raina in successive overs.

Hussey could make just four runs before inside-edging a Zaheer devliery on to the stumps while Raina was caught by Kohli at point.

New Zealand left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori put more pressure on Chennai when he removed Subramaniam Badrinath and West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo to eventually finish with 2-15 off four overs.

Source: Yahoo Cricket

The MA Chidambaram Stadium continued to be a fortress that couldn’t be breached, as Chennai sealed a seventh straight win at home to end Kochi Tuskers Kerala’s maiden IPL campaign on a disappointing note. The win for the hosts was the only constant on an otherwise unusual day in Chennai. To begin with, it was not oppressively hot on a summer’s day; the pitch played slow and low and Kochi bowled with discipline to limit a power-packed batting line-up to a gettable total. The home side found an unlikely hero in Wriddhiman Saha, who seized on a promotion and an early let-off to play a decisive cameo. Lapses by Parthiv Patel, the replacement captain, with the gloves, and Kochi’s struggles to step it up in the chase, meant Chennai’s score of 152 was more than adequate.

For those who witnessed Adam Gilchrist’s ruthless onslaught against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Tuesday, this was a slightly laborious affair. The Kochi bowlers varied their lengths well and did not offer too many scoring opportunities; the seamers refrained from doling out length deliveries, while Muttiah Muralitharan prompted caution. Each time the hosts tried to improvise and go on the attack, they were pegged back by a wicket, earned by Kochi rather than handed out.

M Vijay smashed RP Singh for three boundaries in the third over, but was cleaned up by a perfectly-aimed yorker off the final ball. Suresh Raina was dropped by Parthiv first ball, and Sreesanth, the frustrated party, was made to rue that lapse with two huge sixes over long-on. But the bowler hit back in the same over, when Raina miscued a full toss. S Badrinath smashed a six over midwicket, but was caught brilliantly off the next ball when RP dived full length in the deep to pluck a catch inches from the ground. Saha, though, bucked the trend.

In a contrast to his senior partner Michael Hussey, who was tied down by the steady fall of wickets and his own struggle to push on, Saha infused some urgency in the Chennai innings after surviving a missed stumping by Parthiv. In a clear sign of intent following the second time-out at the end of the 13th over – the scoring rate was fractionally over six at that stage – Saha swept Ravindra Jadeja for six over square leg. In addition to aggressive running between the wickets and an adeptness in rotating the strike, Saha, picked for the Indian tour of West Indies, also indulged in some powerplay. He charged out to Muralitharan to loft him out of the ground and pulled RP into the stands behind deep midwicket to end the Chennai innings on a high.

Kochi needed a big win to keep themselves mathematically alive in this competition, but even the usually dominating Brendon McCullum was forced to exercise restraint against some determined bowling. R Ashwin kept one end locked up with his variations in turn, flight and pace, and sent back Parthiv in his second over. McCullum and Gnaneswara Rao picked up a couple of boundaries each but the innings appeared to stagnate soon after Rao’s dismissal. McCullum and Brad Hodge could do little during their stand to get on par with the climbing required-rate. Chennai didn’t concede a single boundary in the three overs that followed McCullum’s exit at 85 in the 14th over.

Kochi did manage a belated surge with Jadeja and Hodge trying to salvage what they could out of an impending defeat, reducing the margin of the loss to 12 runs – incidentally, the difference in Parthiv’s expected target at the toss.

Siddhartha Talya is a sub editor at ESPNcricinfo

Defending champions Chennai Super Kings cruised to the top of points table by inflicting an 18-run defeat over Delhi Daredevils in their IPL match at MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai on Thursday.

Ravichandran Ashwin and Dwayne Bravo took two wickets each after fifties by Subramaniam Badrinath and Mahendra Singh Dhoni as Chennai won the match comfortably.

Chasing a stiff victory target of 177 runs, Delhi managed to score 158/6 in 20 overs with Irfan Pathan top scoring for the visitors with an unbeaten 34-ball 44 that came with the help of 2 sixes and 3 fours.

Bravo took his second wicket when Michael Hussey took a good catch running in from long-off to dismiss Delhi captain James Hopes.

Delhi lost their fourth wicket when Ravichandran Ashwin clean bowled Venugopal Rao to reduce the hosts to 107/4.

Bravo struck in his first over when he had David Warner caught by Murali Vijay at deep mid-wicket as Daredevils lost their third wicket in pursuit of 177.

Warner hit 2 fours in his 25-ball 21 before falling to Bravo.

Bravo took a superb catch at backward point to dismiss Colin Ingram off Ravichandran Ashwin as Delhi lost their second wicket.

Ingram scored 7 before falling to Ashwin.

Delhi lost their first wicket when Albie Morkel had Naman Ojha caught by Shadab Jakati at mid-off.

Ojha hit 2 sixes and 3 fours in his 14-ball 25 before falling to Morkel.

Earlier, Subramaniam Badrinath and Mahendra Singh Dhoni smashed fifties to power Chennai Super Kings to 176/4.

Dhoni’s unbeaten 31-ball 63 was studded with 4 sixes and 5 fours.

Badrinath reached his half-century off 41 balls and Dhoni reached his fifty off 28 deliveries.

Badrinath hit a six and 6 fours in his 43-ball 55 before he was run out.

Murali Vijay hit a 33-ball 35 before Ajit Agarkar had him caught by Venugopal Rao at deep mid-wicket off a full toss.

Vijay hit 2 sixes and 2 fours in his knock before falling to Agarkar.

Varun Aaron had Suresh Raina caught by Irfan Pathan at fine-leg as Chennai lost their second wicket.

Raina hit a six and a four in his 10-ball 14 before mistiming a short ball from Aaron that resulted in his dismissal.

Irfan Pathan gave Delhi an early breakthrough when he trapped Michael Hussey plumb in front of the wicket in the first over.

The breakthrough came after Chennai captain MS Dhoni won the toss and chose to bat.

Chennai are unchanged from the last match while Delhi have brought in Andrew McDonald and Varun Aaron in place of Morne Morkel and the injured Virender Sehwag.

Teams:

Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt.), Michael Hussey, Murali Vijay, Suresh Raina, Albie Morkel, Subramaniam Badrinath, Dwayne Bravo, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Doug Bollinger, Shadab Jakati.

Delhi Daredevils: James Hopes (Capt.), David Warner, Naman Ojha, Yogesh Nagar, Venugopal Rao, Colin Ingram, Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Shahbaz Nadeem, Andrew McDonald, Varun Aaron.

Source: Times of India

Chasing 197-run target, Rajasthan Royals lost wickets at regular intervals against Chennai Super Kings in their Indian Premier League match at Sawai Mansingh stadium in Jaipur.

Click here to watch Rajasthan Royals vs Chennai Super Kings from Sawai Mansingh stadium in Jaipur

Dwayne Bravo scalped Ajinkya Rahane (52) in the fifteenth over after the young batsman scored a quick-fire fifty to revive Rajasthan run chase.

Rahane smashed seven boundaries in his 36-ball rapid innings and raced to his fifty in just 33 balls.

Super Kings dismissed Ashok Menaria (2) and Ross Taylor (6) in consecutive overs to halt Rajasthan run chase. Spinner R Ashwin got rid of Menaria in the tenth over after pacer Albie Morkel dismissed Taylor in the previous over.

Royals also lost Shane Watson (11) and Rahul Dravid (20) in quick succession against Super Kings as their run chase started on the wrong foot.

Ashwin struck in his first over to dismiss Watson in the sixth over and reduced Royals to 48/2 in 5.5 overs.

Dravid started Royals innings confidently before Chennai pacer Doug Bollinger dismissed him in the fourth over to give Super Kings a vital breakthrough. Dravid hit two fours in his 16-ball knock.

Sent in to bat, Super Kings batsmen fired in unison to lead Chennai to 196/3 against Rajasthan.

Skipper MS Dhoni (41 not out) and Suresh Raina (43) capitalised on the good work done by the openers as they toyed with Royals bowlers to set mammoth 197-run target for Rajasthan.

Dhoni hit three huge sixes and three boundaries in his unbeaten 19-ball blitzkrieg and added quick 44-run stand for the third wicket after losing the openers.

Raina smashed six boundaries in his 27-ball knock before young Royals pacer Amit Singh clean bowled him in the penultimate over.

Michael Hussey (46) and Murali Vijay (53) gave Super Kings an aggressive start as they added 77-run opening stand inside the first ten overs.

Vijay ran himself out after scoring a quick fifty. Johan Botha’s direct throw in the fifteenth over ended Vijay’s stay at the crease after the Chennai opener was very casual in completing his run.

Vijay smashed a huge six off Siddharth Trivedi to complete his quick 36-ball half-century. The CSK opener smashed two fours and three sixes in his 40-ball knock.

Botha broke the rapid opening partnership between Hussey and Vijay in the tenth over to give Rajasthan crucial breakthrough. Hussey made quick-fire 46 off 30 balls with the help of eight boundaries.

Chennai openers started their innings aggressively as they raced to fifty in just 5.2 overs against Rajasthan.

Earlier, Royals skipper Shane Warne won the toss and decided to field against Super Kings on Monday.

Teams:

Rajasthan Royals: Shane Warne (capt), Johan Botha, Rahul Dravid, Ashok Menaria, Ajinkya Rahane, Abhishek Raut, Amit Singh, Ross Taylor, Siddharth Trivedi, Shane Watson, Dishant Harendra Yagnik (wk).

Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt/wk), Michael Hussey, Murali Vijay, Suresh Raina, Albie Morkel, Subramaniam Badrinath, Ravichandran Ashwin, Doug Bollinger, Shadab Jakati, Dwayne Bravo, Wriddhiman Saha.

Source: Times of India

Disciplined bowling and rain helped Kolkata Knight Riders beat defending champions Chennai Super Kings by 10 runs via Duckworth-Lewis (D/L) method in their Indian Premier League match here Saturday.

In a rain delayed match, Knight Rider stifled Super Kings to 114/4 in their 20 overs on a slow and moist track and then raced away to 61/2 in 10 overs when skies opened up.

After revising the target as per D/L method, the Knight Riders were found 10 runs ahead.

Knight Riders lost skipper Gautam Gambhir (16) and Eoin Morgan (5) for 33 runs. Jacques Kallis was batting on 21 and Manoj Tiwary 15 when rain interrupted for the second time.

The win has taken the Knight Riders to second place with 14 points while Super Kings are at third place with 12 points.

Electing to bat, Subramanium Badrinath was the lone bright spot in the Super Kings innings, scoring a brisk 41-ball 54 runs with three fours and two sixes.

Tight bowling by Knight Riders bowler stopped super Kings from scoring a single boundary till the ninth over. Badrinath opened the account by swatting a six off Yusuf Pathan in the tenth over.

The defending champions were off to a false start losing opener Murali Vijay (5) to an easy caught and bowl off spinner Iqbal Abdulla in the fourth over.

Pathan then dismissed Suresh Raina (4), caught by Kallis at midwicket, in the sixth over to reduce Super Kings to 15/2.

Michael Hussey (15) and Badrinath then put on a 34-run stand for the third wicket to steady the innings but Lakshmipathy Balaji separated the two. Hussey was caught at midwicket by Morgan at midwicket in a bid to accelerate the scoring.

Badrinath, however, stood like a rock. He brought up his 50 off 37 balls and forged a 65-run fourth wicket partnership with Albie Morkel who made a run-a-ball 30 not out with three boundaries.

Badrinath was finally dismissed on the last ball of the innings when he was run out in an attempt to take a difficult single.

For Knight Riders, Iqbal Abdulla (1-15), Yusuf Pathan (1-25) and Balaji (1-33) took a wicket each.

Source: Yahoo Cricket

Michael Hussey and Suresh Raina shared a 137-run partnership to steer the Chennai Super Kings to an easy win over the Rajasthan Royals on their home ground in Chepauk.

Mid-way through Rajasthan’s innings, Chennai coach Stephen Fleming was asked what total he’d be happy with. Pat came the reply – “148″. It was an unusually specific score and considering the way the Royals were batting at that time, highly unlikely. But his words worked like a prophecy. At the half way mark the Royals were 86 without loss. The Super Kings then came back into the match, picked up wickets, slowed down the run rate and restricted the Rajasthan side. The runs they had to chase to win – 148. Spooky!

The total was never good enough to put pressure on the home side. Rajasthan needed early wickets to remain in the game. Murali Vijay went back in just the second over after making a mess of a attempted sweep shot off Johan Botha. That was to be the only small blip in the otherwise seamless chase.

Suresh Raina joined Michael Hussey at the crease and there was no looking back. They picked runs off all the bowlers easily and the target never seemed beyond reach. Stuart Binny had a very forgettable day; first conceding eight extras through some silly misfielding and overthrows and then Hussey slammed consecutive boundaries off the only over he bowled. When 19 runs came off a Nayan Doshi over with both Hussey and Raina punishing him with sixes, the writing was on the wall. Both batsman matched each other shot for shot and completed their half centuries in the 13th over. Raina top edged a short ball from Siddharth Trivedi to depart with just 3 runs to go, but Hussey sealed the comprehensive win with a boundary off the very next ball. His 79 off 55 balls earned him the Man of the Match award.

Earlier, the Royals got off to a solid start aided a tad bit by Chennai’s fielders. First R Ashwin let by four leg byes with a sloppy slide near the boundary and then Aniruda Srikkant dropped Shane Watson off Morkel when he was on nine. Scrappy – especially considering the standards they’ve set for themselves in the tournament. From there on, Rahul Dravid and Shane Watson took charge. Dravid in particular looked in supreme form, and didn’t even hesitate to play a few lofted shots and reverse sweeps. His favourite shot for the day however was the pull over mid-wicket that he played for boundaries on demand.

Dravid raced to his half century, which came off just 37 deliveries. His knock off 66, studded with ten boundaries seemed to be just the launchpad Rajasthan needed for a big score. It wasn’t to be. An amazing catch off his own bowling from Jakati broke the opening stand and sent back Watson for a well made 32. The wickets kept tumbling thereafter. Menaria, Botha and Rahane all departed cheaply. Ross Taylor tried hard to hit out but was sent back for 20. Albie Morkel, Ashwin and Bollinger were all successful in pulling it back for Chennai towards the death.

Chennai’s fourth win on the trot moved them to 12 points and kept their record of not losing a game at home in IPL 4 intact.

Source: Jharna Kukreja Chauhan, Yahoo! Cricket

Albie Morkel took 3 wickets after Suresh Raina’s 35-ball 59 as Chennai Super Kings beat Deccan Chargers by 19 runs in their IPL match at MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai on Sunday.

Chasing a victory target of 166 runs, Deccan managed 146/8 in their 20 overs.

Doug Bollinger clean bowled Deccan Chargers captain Kumar Sangakkara as the visitors lost their fourth wicket.

Sangakkara walked way outside off-stump for the pick-up shot over short fine leg, but missed the delivery that went on to hit the middle stump. Sangakkara hit a six and a four in his 12-ball 15.

Morkel then dismissed Cameron White and Jean Paul Duminy in the 19th over to put the match beyond Deccan’s reach.

Deccan opener Sunny Sohal hit 4 sixes and 6 fours in his 31-ball 56 before he was clean bowled by Shadab Jakati.

Jakati took his second wicket when he clean bowled Shikhar Dhawan to place Deccan at 90/2.

Deccan lost their third wicket when Albie Morkel had Bharat Chipli caught by Jakati to reduce Deccan to 110/3.

Earlier, Suresh Raina’s 35-ball 59 and Michael Hussey’s 41-ball 45 powered Chennai Super Kings to 165/5.

Albie Morkel hit three sixes off the last three balls of the 19th over bowled by Ishant Sharma with the last one landing on the roof of the stadium and at 114 metres was the longest of the tournament, bettering his own record of 109 metres that was hit off the previous delivery.

Morkel hit 19 runs off 6 balls before he was run out.

Chennai captain MS Dhoni hit a six and a four in his 22-ball 21 before he was stumped by Kumar Sangakkara off Pragyan Ojha.

Raina hit 2 sixes and 6 fours in his knock and added 58 runs with his captain MS Dhoni for the third wicket.

Raina was dismissed by Ojha who had him caught by Shikhar Dhawan at deep mid-wicket.

Hussey hit 46 before he was caught by Ishant Sharma at deep mid-wicket off Harmeet Singh as Chennai recovered after the early dismissal of Murali Vijay.

Hussey hit 5 fours in his knock and added 60 runs with Suresh Raina for the second wicket.

Chennai lost their first wicket in the fourth over when Vijay edged a Ojha delivery onto his stumps.

The breakthrough came after Dhoni won the toss and chose to bat.

Chennai have dropped Tim Southee and Nuwan Kulasekara and brought in Albie Morkel and Suraj Randiv.

Deccan have replaced Ravi Teja, Manpreet Gony and Dale Steyn with Harmeet Singh, Pragyan Ojha and JP Duminy.

Teams:

Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt.), Murali Vijay, Michael Hussey, Suresh Raina, S Badrinath, Srikkanth Anirudha, Albie Morkel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Doug Bollinger, Shadab Jakati, Suraj Randiv.

Deccan Chargers: Kumar Sangakkara (Capt.), Sunny Sohal, Shikhar Dhawan, Jean Paul Duminy, Cameron White, Daniel Christian, Bharat Chipli, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Ishant Sharma, Harmeet Singh.

Source: Times of India

Who said there is no room for a technically correct batsman in the IPL? S Badrinath walked into a tricky situation, took ownership of the chase of 142 without playing a single ugly shot, and finessed Chennai Super Kings to No. 2 in the IPL table. His effort came after Chennai’s seamers made exemplary use of the extra bounce on the DY Patil strip to restrict Pune to an under-par score, despite a well-paced 62 from Yuvraj Singh.

Badrinath’s virtuoso made the total seem woefully inadequate though Chennai’s chase dawdled listlessly until he came in. Badrinath isn’t your typical IPL hero. His upright stance, clean feet movement, classical backlift and high-elbow follow-through are all made for Test cricket. Yet, he has managed to find a niche for himself in Chennai’s muscular top order. Today he unfurled an IPL innings of rare beauty: there were no cross-batted slogs, no cheeky lap-scoops to deliveries landed outside off, and not once was he caught napping on the front foot to a short ball.

Chennai are not fond of chasing, and today it was evident why. M Vijay and Michael Hussey began too cautiously and the result was 15 dot-balls in the first 4.1 overs. Hussey then heaved Murali Kartik to midwicket where Manish Pandey took a tumbling catch. Badrinath earned a promotion ahead of the out-of-form Suresh Raina, and the swap helped both batsmen.

Chennai had crawled to 39 for 1 in eight overs when Badrinath decided to counter-punch. He trotted out to Kartik and launched him for four through long-off. Kartik tossed the next ball further up, and Badrinath carved him inside-out for a six. Badrinath came out again later in the over, hoodwinking Kartik into dropping short, and then glided him to third man. The over went for 16, and in next over, Badrinath opened up the off side again, lofting Yuvraj for six more. 77 required off 60, and Chennai did not look back from there.

Rahul Sharma thought he had got Badrinath to edge the first ball of the 11th behind, but the umpire gave it not out and replays were inconclusive. Vijay managed to heave Jesse Ryder over midwicket but his scratchy innings ended in typical fashion when he holed out against a slow legcutter. Badrinath carried on as if nothing had happened, angling near-yorkers to third man and drilling half-volleys to the straight boundary with a vengeance. Suresh Raina ended the contest in the 18th over, muscling Jerome Taylor for sixes over long-off.

In reality, Pune lost the match in the first half itself. Ryder fell top-edging an effort ball from Doug Bollinger that rose quickly from short of a length. Mohnish Mishra perished to the pull as well, not bothering to adjust to the length after plonking his front foot forward. Nuwan Kulasekara then dismissed Mithun Manhas with a trademark inducker that squeezed between bat and pad to disturb the leg bail. Manish Pandey departed to a replay of Mishra’s brain-fade, cross-batting Tim Southee off the front foot straight to mid-on, as Pune stumbled to 41 for 4.

Yuvraj survived a loose flail at a Kulasekara offcutter first ball. He thumped the next delivery, one of the few over-pitched by Kulasekara, through cover. Thereafter he settled in carefully, and set himself for a late assault. Meanwhile, Robin Uthappa tried to dominate spin, and managed to cart R Ashwin for sixes before falling to his carom ball for the second time in three days. Yuvraj opened up after Uthappa’s fall, lifting Ashwin with the angle over midwicket before launching Doug Bollinger straight for the shot of the afternoon. He slammed Tim Southee for two sixes in the last over as Pune finished their innings with a flourish. Their last five overs yielded 50, but it was still woefully short. What Pune missed was a batsman with the technical excellence and mental fortitude of Badrinath.

Nitin Sundar is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo