Chennai Super Kings beat Kings XI again, but in Chennai this time, the home ground.
Put into bat, Chennai didn't start their innings well. They lost Vidyut in the first over, caught at slip off Sreesanth.
Fleming got out in the 3rd over, a straight forward catch to covers off Sreesanth again. That was a good powerful shot, but it went straight to Goel. He was out for 1 and Chennai struggling at 20 for 2 in the 3rd over.
Badrinath was promoted in the batting order to play at number 4. He hit two fours off Sreesanth's 3rd over that gave the momentum to Chennai.
The next over by VRV Singh costed 15 runs for Kings XI. Badrinath hit a four and a six off free hit.
Chawla was brought to give a break through and he did it. But, before that, Raina hit him for tw continous fours and got the required runs. He was caught by Marsh when he tried a huge slog over mid wicket, but it took the edge and went high in the air towards point. End of 7 overs, Chennai were 64 for 3. The run rate was over 9 and it was good for Chennai.
Despite losing wickets, Chennai played positively going against the bowlers and maintained the run rate.
The 9th over bowled by Chawla opened up Dhoni's shoulders. He hit for a huge six over wide long-on.
End of 10 overs, Chennai were 85 for 3 with Badrinath on 28 and Dhoni on 12.
Dhoni hit two huge continous sixes of Chawla and the 11th over added 15 to the total. On the other hand, Badrinath hit two sixes of Pathan in the 13th over and he added 15 to the total in that over.
Badrinath reached his 50 off 37 balls with 4 fours and 3 sixes. Should be a huge morale booster for the local boy.
He started hammering the ball. He hit two fours in the 15th over last two balls of VRV Sing. The last 5 overs added 59 to the total.
Sreesanth and Hopes bowled the 16th and 17th over respectively with a good line and gave away just 5 runs each.
That added pressure to the Chennai team and they lost Badrinath in the 3rd ball of the 18th over. He was caught at covers by Yuvaraj off VRV Singh. He scored 64 off 47 balls with 6 fours and 3 sixes. The 18th over also added 5 runs to the total. The last 3 overs added 15 runs over all.
What once thought to be a score of more than 190, turned differently. But, Dhoni played the skipper's innings by sending a six and a four and couple of twos to add 17 to the total. With last 6 balls in hand, Chennai were 176 for 4.
Dhoni crossed his 50 with a huge six in the 19th over and he did that in 37 balls with 3 sixes.
Last over was bowled very well by Pathan and he gave away just 5 runs to finish the Chennai innings at 181.
Sreesanth picked 2 wickets in his 4 overs giving away 29 runs.
Chasing 182, the danger batsman Marsh was hammering as usual at one end, but Kings XI started losing wickets regularly.
Hopes and Marsh opened the innings. Hopes hit a six and a four in the first over by Gony. But he got out in the last ball of the 2nd over, caught by Dhoni. The ball pitched outside the leg and he played the glance towards fine leg. But Dhoni moved quickly towards his left and held it easily.
End of over 4, Kings XI were 29 for 1. Gny struck again in the 5th over by sending Goel caught by Morkel at third man for 1.
Marsh and Sarwan played taking 1s and 2s but the 8th over turned huge for Kings XI. Marsh hit two sixes off Amarnath and that over added 15 to the total.
Muralitharan was brought into the attack. Though he started with a wide down the leg side, he just gave 8 runs in that over to have Kings XI struggle at 76 for 2 in 10 overs.
Balaji bowled the 11th over and conceeded 11 runs including a six by Marsh. Muralitharan's next over also had a six by Marsh.
The equation now is 87 runs required off 48 balls with 8 wickets in hand.
Balaji's over had two wickets for Chennai. He bowled Sarwan when he tried to come down the track and pull him. He scored 20 off 22 balls. In the 5th ball, the dangerous batsman Marsh was caught by Amarnath at deep square leg. He scored 58 off 38 balls with 3 fours and 4 sixes.
Yuvaraj Singh did not stay long in the crease. He got out in the first ball of the 14th over caught by Fleming at point off Amarnath for 2.
Pathan, thought hit 2 fours in the last two balls, that was not enough as the equation changed to 75 from 36 balls.
Jayawardane hit a six off Muralitharan, but got out in the same over caught at short third man.
Balaji bowled a good 16th over in which he gave just 4 runs.
Gony was brought back and that over had two sixes--one by Pathan and the other one by Chawla. The last ball was a four by Chawla. 36 from 12 balls.
Morkel bowled the 19th over and he was hit for a six off the first ball by Pathan. He never gives up. But only 3 runs were scored in the remaining 5 balls as Morkel bowled them very well.
Last over, 27 required. Balaji to Pathan, Six off a full toss. 21 from 5 balls. Two runs were scored and in the next ball, Pathan was caught by Raina at deep square leg. Pathan did not time it well during his pull and it landed in Raina's hand.
The batsman crossed and Chawla hit the ful toss to long off and Kapugedera takes an easy catch. Two wickets in two balls.
He was on-a-hat-trick. VRV Singh was facing. The ball was pitched short out side the off stump, and he tried to slog it, but it took the outside egde and went just few steps back of Dhoni, who took an easy catch. THAT WAS A HAT-TRICK!! FIRST IN IPL! The last ball was missed by the batsman and it went to keeper.
Chennai Super Kings beat Kings XI Punjab one more time!
For taking 5 wickets including a hat-trick in his 4 overs giving just 24 runs, L Balaji was rightly chosen for the man of the match award.
Match 31
Venue: Chennai
Date: May 10, 2008
Teams: Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab
Captains: Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvaraj Singh
Toss: Kings XI Punjab and decided to field
Result: Chennai Super Kings won by 18 runs
Man of the Match: L Balaji off Chennai Super Kings (India)
Points: Chennai Super Kings-2; Kings XI Punjab-0
Score:
Chennai Super Kings 181 for 4 in 20 overs (S Vidyut 8, SP Fleming 1, SK Raina 26, S Badrinath 64, MS Dhoni 60 not out, J A Mokel 7 not out, Extras-15 (lb 4, wide 10, nb 1), S Sreesanth 4-0-29-2, IK Pathan 3-0-33-0, VRV Singh 4-0-35-1, PP Chawla 3-0-36-1, JR Hopes 4-0-36-0, Yuvaraj Singh 1-0-8-0) beat Kings XI Punjab 163 for 9 in 20 overs (SE Marsh 58, JR Hopes 14, K Goel 1, RR Sarwan 20, Yuvraj Singh 2, DPMD Jayawardene 8, IK Pathan 40, PP Chawla 17, S Sreesanth 0 not out, VRV Singh 0, U Kaul 0 not out, Extras-3 (lb 1, wide 2), M Gony 4-0-38-1, JA Morkel 4-0-25-1, P Amarnath 3-0-35-1, CK Kapugedera 1-0-8-0, M Muralitharan 4-0-32-1, L Balaji 4-0-24-5 including a hat-trick)
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