Match 54: CSK v. KXI: Chennai is King! Dhoni beat Yuvaraj!

Kings XI Punjab, the dream to enter the last four was completely shunned by poor batting. Chasing 117, with the batting strength of Katich, Yuvaraj, Sangakkara, Pomersbach, Irfan, it was surprising that Kings XI meekly surrendered to the bowling attack of Super Kings.

Dhoni rightly used the spin attack very well. He also introduced Ashwin into the attack in this crucial game and it worked for him! These three spinners picked 6 wickets among them giving just 38 runs in 12 overs.

CSK got the break-through in the 2nd over when Thushara picked Sohal caught by Patel for 3. Murali was brought into attack in the 5th over itslef and he conceeded 1 run.

Ashwin was given the ball and 3 runs were added to scoreboard. Murali picked Katich in his next over when Katich move across to play it fine missed the ball and lost his leg stump.

The trick of playing out Murali worked against KXI. End of 10 overs, KXI were 42 for 2. Murali picked Pomersbach caught by Raina at slip.

The big break through came in the 13th over bowled by Raina. Yuvaraj gave room to play the short ball to the off side but the ball kept low and hit the stumps.

End of over 15, KXI were 59 for 4, needed 58 in the last 30 balls. Ashwin picked two wickets in 16th over--Sangakkara was caught & bowled and Mota was trapped leg before. Lee trying to charge gave a simple catch to Oram at long on.

48 from 18 balls, 3 wickets in hand. Gony dropped a catch at short fine leg for Irfan Pathan and it went for four.

Last 2 overs needed 40 runs, 8 runs were scored off Thushara's over and Irfan got out in the 5th ball.

Last over, 32 runs. Only 7 runs were scored as Kings XI messed the nice chance and threw themselves out of the tournament. The only chance KXI has is, in the match between Deccan Chargers and Royal Challengers, the losing team has to lose in a big way--either by runs or with more balls remaining.

Murali was given man of the match for his wonderful spell of 4-0-8-2.

Earlier, deciding to bat first, Chennai started well scoring a four in each over during powerplay. When Baily was out, the score was 40 in 4.5 overs.

But, Chennai lost wickets quickly and did not build partnerships. Patel was the top scorer with 32 runs. Badrinath and Dhoni fell cheaply for 4 and 2 respectively. Both the wickets were picked by Sreesanth in the 10th over. Dhoni's wicket was amazing as Sreesanth sent a beautiful inswinging yorker and Dhoni did not bring down the bat in time to save his stumps. The tail did not add any value as they all fell for single digit score.

With this victory, it was sure that Chennai has booked their place for the semi-finals and occupy the 2nd spot below Delhi. The third and fouth spots will be decided after the match between Deccan Chargers and Royal Challengers on 21st. The winner will qualify but the last position will be decied based on the net run rate. Either the loser of the match or Kings XI Punjab will take the 4th spot.

Scoreboard:

Match # 54
Date: Wednesday May 20, 2009
Teams: Chennai Super Kings v. Kings XI Punjab
Captains: Dhoni and Yuvaraj
Toss: CSK, decided to bat
Venue: Kingsmead, Durban
Result: CSK won by 24 runs
Points: CSK 2; KXI 0
Man of the Match: Muralitharan off CSK

Chennai Super Kings Innings:

Batsman	How Out	Runs	Balls	4s	6s
Bailey	Run Out (Yuvaraj)	15	12	3	0
P Patel	b Powar	32	23	4	1
Raina	c Lee b Mota	20	21	2	0
Badrinath	c I Pathan b Sreesanth	4	9	0	0
Dhoni	b Sreesanth	2	2	0	0
Oram	c & b I Pathan	17	21	1	0
Gony	b Chawla	7	5	0	1
Ashwin	c Pomersbach b I Pathan	8	15	1	0
Thushara	Run Out (Katich/Sangakkara)	1	5	0	0
Balaji	Not Out	2	6	0	0
Muralitharan	Not Out	1	1	0	0
Extras	(b 3, lb 2, w 2)	7	-	-	-
Total	for 9 wkts in 20 overs	116	-	-	-

Fall of Wickets: 1-40 (Bailey, 4.5 ov), 2-54 (Patel, 6.5 ov), 3-68 (Badrinath, 9.3 ov), 4-70 (Dhoni, 9.5 ov), 5-87 (Raina, 13.3 ov), 6-96 (Gony, 14.4 ov), 7-105 (Oram, 17.4 ov), 8-109 (Ashwin, 17.6 ov), 9-114 (Thushara, 19.4 ov)

Bowler	O	M	R	W
B Lee	4	0	16	0
I Pathan	4	0	32	2
Powar	4	0	19	1
Sreesanth	4	0	23	2
Chawla	2	0	13	1
Mota	2	0	8	1

Kings XI Punjab Innings:

Batsman	How Out	Runs	Balls	4s	6s
Sohal	c P Pathal b Thushara	3	9	0	0
Katich	b Muralitharan	8	13	1	0
Pomersbach	c Raina b Muralitharan	26	32	1	1
Yuvaraj	b Raina	6	19	0	0
Sangakkara	c & b Ashwin	7	9	0	0
Mota	lbw b Ashwin	5	10	0	0
I Pathan	c Oram b Thushara	14	12	1	0
B Lee	c Oram b Raina	6	7	1	0
Chawla	Not Out	4	4	0	0
Powar	Not Out	7	5	1	0
Extras	(lb 3, w 3)	6	-	-	-
Total	for 8 wkts in 20 overs	92	-	-	-

Fall of Wickets: 1-6 (Sohal, 1.5 ov), 2-32 (Katich, 6.5 ov), 3-45 (Pomersbach, 11.1 ov), 4-49 (Yuvraj Singh, 12.4 ov), 5-59 (Sangakkara, 15.1 ov), 6-60 (Mota, 15.3 ov), 7-67 (Lee, 16.5 ov), 8-83 (Pathan, 18.5 ov)

Bowler	O	M	R	W
Gony	2	0	9	0
Thushara	4	0	28	2
Muralitharan	4	0	8	2
Ashwin	4	0	13	2
Raina	4	0	17	2
Balaji	2	0	14	0

Pietersen Warned by IPL

Bangalore Royal Challengers captain Kevin Pietersen was warned by IPL for showing dissent to the umpire's decision in the match against CSK.

In the match between Chennai Super Kings and Bangalore Royal Challengers held on April 20, 2009, Chennai won by 92 runs. Pietersen was declared LBW off Muralitharan's doosra. Though the decision was a bad one, as per the rules, the batsmen are not expected to show any dissent.

Kevin Pietersen showed dissent and hence he was warned by IPL. Since this is the first incident and not serious enough to be punished, he was let off with the warning.

IPL Match 5: CSK v. RC: Kings Royals! Dumps Challengers!

In the crucial match for CSK, Hayden and Parthiv Patel gave a wonderful start! Winning the toss and batting first, they added 106 for the first wicket in 10 overs. Hayden scored the fastest fifty for CSK beating Dhoni's record. His 50 came in just 22 balls including 8 fours and 2 sixes.

Parthiv was not timing the ball well as few of his shots went in the air and landed in no man's land. His six of Steyn was a perfect shot. He pulled a short delivery from off-stump to over mid wicket. Hayden hit 2 sixes and smashed 9 fours. He did not spare anyone in RC bowling attack.

Pietersen used 8 bowlers including himself to see some breakthrough, but nothing worked until Hayden got run out through a direct through by Dravid. Kallis was punished with 3 continuous fours by Hayden in his first over. Raina, Dhoni and Flintoff contributed to the team, but everyone expected that CSK will go close to 200. But, after the fall of Parthiv Patel and Hayden in two continous deliveries of Pietersen, the run-rate stumbled.

Dhoni and Raina added just 38 runs in 34 balls. If they had managed the tempo close to what it was, they would have definitely crossed 200. However, CSK managed to score 35 runs in the last 4 overs to take the total to 179.

Royal Chellengers start was once again poor. Praveen Kumar was bowled in the first over for a duck. Uthappa and Kallis could not improvise the run rate and fell for pressure. Kallis playing an unusual shot, stepping down and going across the wicket, got hit in the back foot to declare plumb lbw.

Muralitharan's inclusion in the side proved vital for Dhoni. He picked 3 crucial wickets including two in the same over. Pietersen was given lbw and Uthappa was stumped by Dhoni off a dhoosra.

RC were bowled out for 87 in 15.2 overs giving CSK their first victory in season 2.

Scoreboard:

Match # 5
Date: Monday April 20, 2009
Teams: Chennai Super Kings v. Bangalore Royal Challengers
Captains: Dhoni and Pietersen
Toss: CSK, elected to bat
Venue: St. George's Park, Port Elizabeth
Result: CSK won by 92 runs
Points: CSK 2; RC 0
Man of the Match: M Muralitharan of CSK

Chennai Super Kings Innings:

Batsman	How Out	Runs	Balls	4s	6s
Parthiv Patel	b Pietersen	30	26	2	1
Hayden	Run Out (Dravid)	65	35	9	2
Raina	c Kohli b P Kumar	28	29	1	1
Dhoni	c Bishnoi b P Kumar	16	14	0	1
Flintoff	Not Out	22	13	2	1
A Morkel	b Steyn	5	3	1	0
Extras	(lb 5, w 8)	13	-	-	-
Total	for 5 wkts in 20 overs	179	-	-	-

Fall of Wickets: 1-106 (Patel, 10.1 ov), 2-106 (Hayden, 10.2 ov), 3-144 (Dhoni, 15.6 ov), 4-165 (Raina, 18.6 ov), 5-179 (Morkel, 19.6 ov)

Bowler	O	M	R	W
P Kumar	4	0	37	2
Steyn	4	0	35	1
Kallis	2	0	28	0
Vinay Kumar	1	0	12	0
Kohli	1	0	9	0
Kumble	4	0	26	0
Pietersen	3	0	14	1
LRPL Taylor	1	0	13	0

Bangalore Royal Challengers Innings:

Batsman	How Out	Runs	Balls	4s	6s
P Kumar	b Gony	0	3	0	0
Uthappa	st Dhoni b Muralitharan	20	19	2	0
Kallis	lbw b A Morkel	24	19	5	0
LRPL Taylor	c & b Flintoff	1	4	0	0
Pietersen	lbw b Muralitharan	0	1	0	0
Dravid	c Flintoff b Balaji	20	18	2	0
Kohli	c Badrinath b J Sharma	11	13	0	1
Bishnoi	c Balaji b Muralitharan	0	1	0	0
R Vinay Kumar	c Hayden b Balaji	5	6	0	0
Steyn	Run Out (Raina/Dhoni)	0	3	0	0
Kumble	Not Out	1	5	0	0
Extras	(lb 1, w 4)	5	-	-	-
Total	all out in 15.2 overs	87	-	-	-

Fall of Wickets: 1-0 (Kumar, 0.3 ov), 2-40 (Kallis, 5.2 ov), 3-47 (Taylor, 6.5 ov), 4-49 (Pietersen, 7.3 ov), 5-50 (Uthappa, 7.5 ov), 6-66 (Kohli, 10.5 ov), 7-66 (Bishnoi, 11.1 ov), 8-74 (Vinay Kumar, 12.4 ov), 9-78 (Steyn, 13.3 ov), 10-87 (Dravid, 15.2 ov)

Bowler	O	M	R	W
Gony	3	0	24	1
L Balaji	2.2	0	18	2
A Morkel	2	0	12	1
Flintoff	3	0	11	1
Muralitharan	4	1	11	3
J Sharma	1	0	10	1

Match 58, Semi Final 2: Chennai Storms into Finals! To meet Rajasthan!

Chennai Super Kings beat Kings XI Punjab for the third consecutive time in the IPL and entered the grand finale. The cool man admitted that he was under pressure but couldn't show it outside. He wanted his bowlers to see a confident man in the field.

Winning the toss and deciding to bat first, Kings XI Punjab failed to capitalize on the crucial toss. The much expected fight in a neutral venue did not go well as expected.

Chennai Super Kings had an easy target in hand to enter the finals and they did it withe ease. Chasing 113 in 16 overs is an easy task unless the batsmen make mistakes or the bowlers are too good in their line and length. Dhoni's team ensured that they did not make the mistakes they committed against Bangalore Royal Challengers while chasing an easy target of 127.

Vidyut got out in the 3rd over for 6 with a four. That was the only wicket to fall and we couldn't see the aggressive Yuvaraj after that. Both Patel and Raina played well to ensure that their team moved to the final stage of the game.

Both of them scored 50 in this short run chase which ended in the 15th over. Patel was the first to cross fifty in 47 balls with 8 fours and followed by Raina in 32 balls with 3 fours and 4 sixes.

Raina took little risk every now and then. He hit his first six of VRV Singh over long on. The short ball pitched on the off stump was sent over long for a six. He game room for himself and that helped him to clear the boundary.

It was strange that Sreesanth bowled just one over. I think the he was not utilized properly in this game. One of the top five most wicket takers in this IPL, it was surprising that Yuvi did used him for just one over.

His second six went out of the ground. That was really huge. The short ball from Hopes was hit over mid wicket. Pathan's short ball was his third six over mid wicket. His fourth six came off Piyush Chawla's flight deilvery which was swept over mid wicket. The next ball was a four and that was his fifty. He chipped the 5th ball of the 15th over to make the winning boundary. He was awarded the DLF Maximum Sixes Award.

They both added 102 runs for the unbeaten second wicket in 75 balls.

Read: Man of the Match List

Read: Points Table

Read: IPL Scores Table!

Read: Semi Final 1: Rajasthan Royals v. Delhi Daredevils

Earlier, Kings XI did not start well. They lost wickets at regular intervals. Interesting, Dhoni opened his bowling attack with Muralitharan. He bowled just one over and conceded 7 runs. The first ball was a full toss and Marsh smashed hit through cover. Marsh scored 23 in 17 balls with 3 sixes and a six, couldn't continue his form. The pull of a short ball from Ntini, got the inside edge and dragged the ball to the stumps. Hopes was caught behind of Ntini in the second over. Sangakkar walked on his own though umpire did not give him out. He was caught behind of Gony in the 3rd over and Punjab was struggling at 11 for 2.

Most runs in the power play came in the 4th over bowled by Nitni where Marsh hit a six of an edge, which went over the keeper's head. Another edge went to fine leg boundary.

Gony and Muralitharan sent Yuvaraj back to the pavilion. It was a short ball and Yuvaraj pulled it with full power towards mid wicket. Muralitharan intercepted it near the ring and took a brilliant catch. In the next over Marsh was bowled.

At the end of power play, Kings XI were 35 for 4. Pathan and Jayawardane steadied the innings for the next overs, but the poor calling had Pathan run out. Jayawardane played the ball towards cover point boundary where Ntini brilliantly stopped the ball but couldn't control crossing the boundary. He intelligently rolled the ball inside the playing area and came back to pick it up. Pathan who looked for the third was first acknowledged by Jayawardane, but later sent him back, but by that time it was too late. Ntini sent a good one bounce throw to bowler Gony and he did the rest. Pathan was in the middle of the pitch and couldn't do much.

In the next over, Jayawardane tried to steer the ball to third man, edged the ball to Parthiv Patel off Morkel.

At the end of 10 overs, Kings XI were 45 for 6 almost ruined their chances to final. Chawla was bowled by Muralitharan's flight delivery. Powar though tried to hit the ball many times couldn't connect most of the deliveries. But, he hit a six of Morkel in the 19th over and then 3 consecutive fours of Balaji in the 20th over. The last 2 overs added 28 to the total and helped Kings XI to cross the 100 mark.

Mota was the 8th wicket to fall. In the last ball of the 19th over, Mota tried to loft the ball over long on, but it ballooned in the air. Raina came running from long and took a stunning diving catch.

Kings XI ended their innings with 112 for 8, Ramesh Power top scoring with 28 not out off 21 balls with 4 fours and a six.

Ntini was given the man of the match award, his second in IPL, for his good bowling performance and also for the good intelligent fielding and thorw which ran out Irfan Pathan.

Match 58 - Semi Final 2
Venue: Mumbai
Date: May 31, 2008
Teams: Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab
Captains: Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvaraj Singh
Toss: Kings XI Punjab and decided to bat
Result: Chennai Super Kings won by 9 wickets with 31 balls remaining
Man of the Match: M Ntini off Chennai Super Kings (South Africa)
Score:

Kings XI Punjab 112 for 8 in 20 overs (SE Marsh 23, JR Hopes 2, KC Sangakkara 3, Yuvraj Singh 4, DPMD Jayawardene 8, IK Pathan 3, WA Mota 25, PP Chawla 12, RR Powar 28 not out, S Sreesanth 0 not out, Extras-4 (b 2, wide 2), M Muralitharan 4-0-19-1, M Ntini 4-0-23-2, M Gony 4-1-14-2, JA Morkel 4-0-27-2, L Balaji 4-0-27-0) lost to Chennai Super Kings 116 for 1 in 14.5 overs (PA Patel 51 not out, S Vidyut 6, SK Raina 55 not out, Extras-4 (wide 4), IK Pathan 4-0-24-0, S Sreesanth 1-0-7-0, RR Powar 3-0-28-0, VRV Singh 2-0-14-0, JR Hopes 2-0-20-0, PP Chawla 2.5-0-23-0)

Read: Semi Final 1: Rajasthan Royals v. Delhi Daredevils

Read: Man of the Match List

Read: Points Table

Read: IPL Scores Table!

Match 49: Rajasthan Royals Continue Winning! Chennai miss the thriller!

In the crucial match, Chennai Super Kings has lost an opportunity one more time to confirm their birth to the semi-finals. They lost the easy target of 128 against Bangalore Royal Challengers and they lost this match by 10 runs against Rajasthan Royals.

Read: Man of the Match List

Read: Points Table

Read: IPL Scores Table!

One more match for Chennai with last over requiring 15 runs. They won one of the three such matches. They won against Delhi when M Gony hit Shoaib Malik for 15 runs. They scored only 4 runs including one waist height no ball and lost two wickets.

JA Morkel top scored for Chennai with 71 off 40 balls with 6 fours and 4 sixes. Parthiv Patel scored 54 off 40 balls with 5 fours and 2 sixes. SK Raina added 45 off 24 balls with 6 fours and 2 sixes. Sohail Tanvir picked 3 wickets for 33 runs.

For Rajasthan, after deciding to bat, Smith scored a brilliant 91 off 51 balls with 9 fours and 4 sixes. The first wicket added 127 in 11.1 overs and Asnodkar scored 41 of those in 27 balls with 5 fours and 2 sixes. Kamran Akmal fired a quick fire 53 off 28 balls with 4 fours and 3 sixes.

JA Morkel picked 2 for 35 in 4 overs and has been declared man of the match.

Now, Chennai has only two options to enter semi-finals:

Delhi Daredevils has to lose their match against Mumbai Indians or Chennai has to win their last match against Deccan Chargers!

Match 48
Venue: Chennai
Date: May 24, 2008
Teams: Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals
Captains: Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Shane Warne
Toss: Rajasthan Royals and decided to bat
Result: Rajasthan Royals won by 10 runs
Man of the Match: JA Morkel off Chennai Super Kings (South Africa)
Points: Rajasthan Royals-2; Chennai Super Kings-0
Score:

Hyderabad Deccan Chargers 175 for 4 in 20 overs (GC Smith 91, SA Asnodkar 41, Kamran Akmal 53 not out, YK Pathan 6, M Kaif 10, T Kohli 3, Extras-7 (lb 5, wide 1, nb 1), M Ntini 4-0-43-0, M Gony 3-0-32-0, JA Morkel 4-0-35-2, M Muralitharan 4-0-31-0, L Balaji 3-0-45-0, SK Raina 2-0-20-1) beat Chennai Super Kings 201 for 7 in 20 overs (PA Patel 54, SP Fleming 7, SK Raina 45, JA Morkel 71, MS Dhoni 12, S Badrinath 1, M Gony 2 not out, A Mukund 0, Extras-9 (b 1, lb 2, wide 3, nb 3), Sohail Tanvir 4-0-33-3, YK Pathan 3-0-31-0, MM Patel 4-0-55-1, Pankan Singh 4-0-30-0, SK Warne 4-0-35-2, D Salunkhe 1-0-14-0)

Read: Man of the Match List

Read: Points Table

Read: IPL Scores Table!

Match 46: Chennai's Complecent! Loses to Bangalore! Dravid Happy!

Has complacency set-in in the minds of Dhoni and Chennai Super Kings team? An easy target to chase, pitch is good, though not great, confirmed birth for semi-finals. Every Chennai Supporter had a great shock on the attitude of the Chennai players.

Chasing 127 in 20 overs in a T20 game is easy including regular 50 overs match. The start was good, both Fleming and Parthiv Patel played very well to bring the score to 44 at the end of power play. With 14 overs, 83 to win, with all the 10 wickets in hand, no team would miss it. Today was an exception for Chennai and the day belong to Bangalore! Sure they were expecting another defeat until they got the wicket of Morkel.

The break through came in the form of luck for Kumble and Bangalore. It is like self-goal in football or hockey. The drive by Patel went straight to Kumble for an easy caught and bowled chance, but be missed it and ball popped out of his hands and hit Fleming, the non-striker and rebound in the air again. This time Kumble held it easily. At the end of 10 overs, Chennai were 61 for 1, requiring 66 in 60 balls.

Dhoni got out to a rash shot. He did not time the lofted shot well and gave a simple catch to Kumble at long on.

Fleming hit a six and a four of Vinaykumar in the 13th over. When he gave room for himself to take a full toss and hit it on the leg side. He misses the shot and last his leg stump, which hit keeper Boucher knees, who suffers in real pain. Fleming lost the grip of the bat and it was flying in the air. Umpires found that there were only 3 players in the 30 yard circle and call a no ball. Lucky Fleming. Bats again.

With all this luck where Patel was dropped and Fleming out on a no ball, Chennai should have won this game!

The luck did not continue for Fleming as he was out sweeping Kumble and caught at deep square leg. He scored 45 off 40 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes. He won the award for DLF most sixes!

In the same over last ball, the final over for Kumble, Badrinath tried to play the sweep, but got trapped plumb in front of the wicket. Two wickets in an over! Bangalore is getting back in the game! Their confidence level goes up!

Steyn was brought in to bowl the 16th over. The good bouncer was well handled by Morkel but it went straight to Vinaykumar in deep square leg. Unnecessary short at this stage as Chennai needed only 34 from 28 balls--not difficult in T20.

Steyn's bowled another short ball to Vidyut and he tried to pull. The ball hit the top of the bat and went straight to short midwicket where Kallis took a good one handed diving catch. One more 2-wicket over for Bangalore.

End of over 16, Chennai were 93 for 6, requiring 34 from 24 balls. Raina hit a boundary of Kallis in the 2nd ball, but did not utilize the rest of the overs. Just with another single, that over added 5 to the total. 29 off 3 overs.

Praven Kumar bowled the 18th over and was smashed for two boundaries by Raina and Gony. With a wide and single, alredy 10 runs of that over in 3 balls, Gony should have played sensible to retain his wicket for other overs. He tried to hit another four of a shot ball and mistimed it and Steyn took the catch near the circle at mid off.

Two overs, 18 runs, 3 wickets in hand. Steyn bowled the penultimate over and gave just 2 runs and Balaji was run out. Last over, 16 runs with 2 wickets.

Raina trying for scoring all the runs of Praveen Kumar, could not do much on the yorker length deliveries. Though singles could have been taken in the first two balls, he did not go for it as he was not confident of Nitni.

Third ball was a single and no run on the fourth ball, victory to Bangalore!

No run was scored in the last two balls and Bangalore takes two points and moves one place above in the points table. Dravid is a happy man and was seen pumping in the air just before the last ball.

Earlier, deciding to bat, Bangalore started slow. They never looked dangerous. Kallis was caught at slip by Fleming of Gony. In the next over, Fleming dropped a sitter in slips for Goswami. In the 6th over, Goswami walked himself though umpire ruled him not out for a caught behind appeal. He showed the spirit!

Dravid alone looked dangerous. He found his form and was playing like a real T20 player! He played great innings in the last few matches, though it did not help his team to win.

Misbha, who scored 47 in the previous match, could not continue his form. The outswinger pitched on the off, took the edge of Misbha and went to the right of Patel, who took a brilliant one handed diving catch.

Read: Man of the Match List

Read: Points Table

Read: IPL Scores Table!

Dravid hit at least one boundary in regular intervals, almost in every over. He hit two continuous fours of Balaji to take Bangalore to 87 at the end of 16 overs. He was caught at short extra cover by Dhoni of Morkel for 47 off 39 balls with 5 fours.

Praveen Kumar hit two fours of Nitni and then a four and a six of Balaji. Those two overs added 24 to the total.

Last over was bowled by Morkel. Praveen Kumar and Vinay Kumar got out in consecutive deliveries, giving hat-trick chance to Morkel. Praveen was bowled of a yorker and Vinay, trying to slog, saw his off stump flying.

Kumble scored two runs in the next ball and prevented hat-trick. It was almost half-a-chance but missed by Muralitharan.

Kumble was declared man of the match for his 3 wickets.

Match 46
Venue: Chennai
Date: May 21, 2008
Teams: Chenani Super Kings and Bangalore Royal Challengers
Captains: Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Rahul Dravid
Toss: Bangalore Royal Challengers and decided to bat
Result: Bangalore Royal Challengers won by 14 run
Man of the Match: Anil Kumble off Bangalore Royal Challengers (India)
Points: Bangalore Royal Challengers-2; Chenani Super Kings-0
Score:

Bangalore Royal Challengers 126 for 8 in 20 overs (JH Kallis 5, SP Goswami 10, V Kohli 10, R Dravid 47, Misbah-ul-Haq 4, MV Boucher 17, B Akhil 6 not out, P Kumar 21, R Vinay Kumar 0, A Kumble 2 not out, Extras-4 (lb 3, wide 1), M Ntini 4-0-27-0, M Gony 4-1-11-2, M Muralitharan 4-0-19-1, L Balaji 4-0-34-1, JA Morkel 4-0-32-4) beat Chenani Super Kings 112 for 8 in 20 overs (PA Patel 24, SP Fleming 45, MS Dhoni 4, SK Raina 21 not out, S Badrinath 1, JA Morkel 1, S Vidyut 0, M Gony 4, L Balaji 0, M Ntini 0 not out, Extras-12 (lb 2, wide 8, nb 2), DW Steyn 4-0-28-2, P Kumar 4-0-26-1, A Kumble 4-0-14-3, JH Kallis 4-0-15-0, R Vinay Kumar 3-0-23-1, B Akhil 1-0-4-0)

Read: Man of the Match List

Read: Points Table

Read: IPL Scores Table!

Match 36: Jayasuria's sixes Rain demolish Chennai!

What an innings by Jayasuriya? The Mumbai crowd expected all of this from Sachin, but the day belonged to Jayasuriya.

It was raining sixes and boundaries in the ground! No one was able to stop Jayasuria today. He hit 11 sixes and 9 fours. Can you believe he scored 96 runs off his 114 standing in his crease. His 114 came off 48 balls of which the fours and sixes took just 20 balls. In the remaining 28 balls, he scored 18 runs. That was okay!

Chasing a target of 157, his first four came off Morkel over cover. In the same over, he started his sixes campaign.

Gony bowled the third over by just giving four runs but he was not spared later.

Morkel's 2nd over and 4th of the innings had two sixes--one by Tendulkar at short third man and the other by Jayasuriya over long.

Jayasuriya hit 3 sixes of Gony in the next over to take his tally to 6 sixes. End of 5 overs, Mumbai were 57 for no loss. It should have given some lessons to Gony, who has gone for 20 runs in this over.

Morkel bowled the 6th over and he was also not spared by Jayasuriya. He hit 6, 4, 4, wide, 0, 6, 0 to take his sixes tally to 8. End of power play, the match was almost gone out of Chennai's hand--78 for no loss, record score in IPL in the power play.

Balaji started with a good outswinger to Tendulkar, couldn't control his line as he bowled two wides. But, he restricted Tendulkar in that over and gave just 3 runs.

Joginder Sharma struck for Chennai and took the first wicket. The stright delivery was missed by Tendulkar and was bowled. He scored 12 off 16 balls with a four and a six.

Uthappa joined Suriya, to watch him dealing in fours and sixes with Chennai attack. The 10th over added two fours and a six to Jayasuriya's tally and took the score to 107 for 1. Jayasuriya batting on 74 off 34 balls with 5 fours and 8 sixes. He needs to score 26 of the remaining 50 runs to reach his century. Did he do it?

Yes, he started with a boundary of his country mate Muralitharan. At the end of 13 overs, Mumbai were 132 for 1, with Jayasuriya on 88. To win 25 and 12 to century.

Jayasuriya decided finish the scoring himself. He hit 3 sixes and 2 fours to finish the match in the 5th ball of the 14th over. Very crucial for the net run rate, if required at the later stage of the tournament. The second six took him to his first hundred in the 20-20 and in IPL. What a hundred? No better way to bring a hundred than this!! He reached the three digits in 45 balls with 7 fours and 10 sixes.

Sachin, though didn't score was a morale booster to the team. Jayasuriya played so freely that he had no pressure at all. He had the pressure of scoring runs when Sachin was not there, but today was a different day!

Earlier, put into bat, Chennai Super Kings started with a plan in mind--a slow foundation building innings. Though they created the record of scoring least runs in the power play, Dhoni and Badrinath played sensibly to take the score beyond 150 runs.

Fleming, once again, not able to find his rhythm. He was dropped off two continuous balls--one falling short of Tendulkar, and the next ball he tried to slog, went in the air, but dropped by Jayasuriya.

Yidyut was the first to go, caught at mid-off. The ball took the edge and went high in the air. He was out for 16 off 11 balls with 3 fours.

Raina was the next to go, caught behind off Bravo for 1 off 6 balls. Fleming was bowled by Kulkarni for 26. The thick outside egdge dragged the ball to the stumps. He took 29 balls with 4 fours.

In the same over, Kapugedera was caught behind for 0. End of 10 overs, Chennai were 57 for 4. They needed 10 runs per over to go beyond 150.

Pollock bowled a maiden over and completed his spell with the figures of 4-1-9-1.

Dhoni was scoring four in the 12th and 13th overs. He scored two fours in the 14th over to take the score to 83 for 4.

Badrinath started his hitting spree with a four of Kulkarni's last ball in the 15th over. He hit two fours of Bravo in the next over. Chennai crossed 100 at the end of 16 overs.

The 17th over added 11 to the total with a four to Dhoni and Badrinath. The 18th over added 14 to the total with Badrinath scoring a six and a four of Raje. Momentum started building up in Chennai innings.

The 19th over by Bravo saw two huge sixes--one by Dhoni and the other one by Badrinath, which took him beyond 50. He scored 52 off 32 balls with 7 fours and 2 sixes. But, he got out in the next ball, the pull took the top edge and was easily caught by Bravo on his own bowling.

Man of the Match List

Points Table

Dhoni and Badrinath added 95 runs for the fifth wicket in 61 balls, the record for the 5th wicket partnership in IPL.

The last over bowled by Kulkarni added 15 to the total. Kulkarni started with a wide on the off stump and then a wide on the leg, but the batsman ran two. So, 4 runs already scored with all 6 balls remaining.

Dhoni and Morkel hit a four each and in the last ball, Morkel got out caught by Uthappa at long off.

Dhoni was not out on 43 off 35 balls with 6 fours and 1 six. The score board crossed 150 and Chennai set a target of 157 in 20 overs.

Jayasuriya was declared man of the match without much doubt for his wonderful, firing, quick century.

Match 36
Venue: Mumbai
Date: May 14, 2008
Teams: Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings
Captains: Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Toss: Mumbai Indians and decided to field
Result: Mumbai Indians won by 9 wickets with 37 balls remaining
Man of the Match: Sanath Jayasuriya off Mumbai Indians (Sri Lanka)
Points: Mumbai Indians-2; Delhi Daredevils-0
Score:

Chennai Super Kings 156 for 6 in 20 overs (S Vidyut 16, SP Fleming 26, SK Raina 1, S Badrinath 53, CK Kapugedera 0, MS Dhoni 43 not out, JA Morkel 5, Extras-12 (lb 3, wide 9), SM Pollock 4-1-9-1, A Nehra 4-0-31-0, DJ Bravo 4-0-37-2, DS Kulkarni 4-0-33-3, RR Raje 3-0-33-0, DJ Thornely 1-0-10-0) lost to Mumbai Indians 158 for 1 in 13.5 overs (ST Jayasuriya 114 not out, SR Tendulkar 12, RV Uthappa 16 not out, Extras-16 (lb 4, wide 12), M Gony 3-0-31-0, JA Morkel 3-0-44-0, L Balaji 2-0-9-0, Joginder Sharma 3-0-24-1, M Muralitharan 2-0-20-0, CK Kapugedera 0.5-0-26-0)


Man of the Match List

Points Table

Match 31: Chennai beat Kings XI again! Balaji Takes Hat-trick!

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)

Match 26: Deccan's 2nd Win beating Chennai!

What happened to Dhoni? Why is he not learning the positives and negatives from the previous losses? The Chennai super Kings have given a hopes to Deccan Chargers and now more pressure on Dhoni to win the remaining matches.

Put into bat, once gain the top order failed. Patel wanted to hit from the first over itself--may be using the tactics of attacking the bowler before he does it. He failed once more time, caught by RP Singh, a well run catch off Vijaykumar.

Anirudha Srikanth, appearing for the first time, couldn't handle the pressure. He faced 7 balls for his 1 run and fell for the pressure. He stepped out and tried to pull the short ball. But, he hit from the top of the batch, which went in air like a lolly pop.

Fleming looked like he was coming to form, but fell to a good jumping catch by Rohit Sharm at covers of Styris.

Badrinath came in and was briliantly caught by Gibbs at point. It was a wide and short deliery by Afridi. He chased it and tried to steer it between point and third man, but it went in the air towards left of Gibbs. He dived and grabbed the ball, though looked easy, it was a good catch. At this stage, Chennai were 43 for 4 in 6.5 overs.

Raina and Dhoni added 39 for the 5th wicket off 40 balls. Raina was out off a low full toss, which he hit straight to Rohit Sharma at extra cover, an easy catch to end his innings at 32 off 21 balls with 5 fours.

Dhoni fell in the next over, trying to sweep Ojha. He was struggling against Ojha already and he tried sweep the ball pitched outside leg stump. The ball hit gloves, and the back of the bat and flew to short third man where Afridi took one of the simplest catches. He scored 23 off 31 balls with just 2 fours. Chennai was struggling at 86 for 6 in 15 overs.

It was Morkel who lighted the Chennai innings. He hit a four and 2 sixes in his 29 not out off 19 balls. Joginder Singh contributed 16 off 10 balls with a six and a four. He was bowled in the 19th over in which only 3 runs were scored.

The last over cold have been a turning point, if Chennai had bowled well. Gony hit two sixes and a four to finish the last over with 17 runs and Chennai ended their innings with 144 on the board.

RP Singh took 2 wickets in his 3 overs giving away just 12 runs.

Chasing a moderate score is alwyas kind of 50-50. You lose two quick wickets or score low runs in couple of hours, it turns the match. Though the first two overs did not go well for Deccan Chargers--4 for no loss, Gibbs opened it up and Gilchrist took it from there! Gibbs stepped out and hit Ntini for a six over covers.

Morkel's over had two boundaries from Gilchrist. The change of end for Gony worked when he dismissed Gibbs caught and bowled for 10.

In the next over, Gilly hit Ntini for 2 sixes and a four in the 6th over. Both Gilly and Styris played sensibly with Gilly scoring at high speed in one end.

Gilly reached his 50 off 34 balls with 5 fours and 2 sixes. In the 10th over, Gilly played his favorite shot, a slashing cut towards point, flying like a bullet, where Badrinath took a good catch. He was out for 54 off 36 balls with 7 fours and 2 sixes.

Rohit Sharma, took his orange cap again for going beyond Shewag. He added 47 along with Styris, in which he scored 23 off 17 balls with 2 fours and a six. He was trying to finish the game faster, but did not read the doosra from Muralitharan. The ball went up in the air and Badrinath accepted it easily. That was too late for Chennai to get a wicket. The score was 125 for 2 in 16.1 overs.

Deccan Chargers needed 20 runs from 4 overs with 8 wickets in hand--a sure win. With Muralitharan completing his spell of 4 overs with 1 for 24, there was no specialist bowler to contain the Deccan Chargers. The last three overs needed 18.

Afridi, the usual destructor finished scoring all the 18 runs in one over of Joginder Sharma by hitting two sixes and two fours--six, four, six, four.

Gilly was rightly chosen for the man of the match award.

This is the 2nd win for Deccan Chargers and 3rd continuous loss for Chennai Super Kings.

Match 26
Venue: Chennai
Date: May 6, 2008
Teams: Chennai Super Kings and Hyderabad Deccan Chargers
Captains: Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Adam Gilchrist
Toss: Hyderabad Deccan Chargers and decided to field
Result: Hyderabad Deccan Chargers won by 7 wickets with 12 balls remaining
Man of the Match: AC Gilchrist off Hyderabad Deccan Chargers (Australia)
Points: Hyderabad Deccan Chargers-2; Chennai Super Kings-0
Score:
Chennai Super Kings 144 for 7 in 20 overs (PA Patel 4, SP Fleming 14, S Anirudha 1, SK Raina 32, S Badrinath 0, MS Dhoni 23, JA Morkel 29 not out, Joginder Sharma 16, M Gony 15 not out, Extras—10 (lb 6, wide 4), DP Vijaykumar 3-0-17-1, RP Singh 3-0-12-2, SB Styris 3-0-24-1, Shahid Afridi 3-0-27-1, SB Bangar 4-0-36-1, PP Ojha 4-0-22-1) lost to Hyderabad Deccan Chargers 148 for 3 in 18 overs (AC Gilchrist 54, HH Gibbs 10, SB Styris 36 not out, RG Sharma 23, Shahid Afridi 20 not out, Extras-5 (lb 1, wide 2, nb 2), M Ntini 4-0-37-0, M Gony 3-0-15-0, JA Morkel 4-0-26-1, Joginder Sharma 3-0-45-0, M Muralitharan 4-0-24-1)

Match 20: Chennai Super Kings Loses! Shewag Proves Delhi is the Boss!

The perfect openers for Delhi is a big advantage. They are able to score with proper cricketing shots and also slogging when needed.

Chepauk once again proved lucky for Delhi skipper Shewag. Chasing a moderate target of 170, the Delhi opener hit 3 sixes in the first two overs--first over 4th ball over third man, the remaining two in the bowling of Goni--first ball over long off and third ball over point. End of two overs, they were 25 for no loss. The initial domination by Shewag really put pressure to Chennai and they were looking for break through. Shewag hit two fours of Gony in his 2nd over.

Gambhir, the man in form scored two fours of Nitni. The runs were coming thick and fast for Delhi. At the end of power play, Delhi were 64 for no loss. The entire crowd including my watching it live really enjoyed the game of Shewag and thought that Delhi would win without losing a wicket.

Shewag reach his 50 in 24 balls with 4 fours and 4 sixes. He cracked Joginder Sharma's first over for 19 runs with a six and two fours. Though he was out caught at deep cover, it was a free hit.

At the end of 10 overs, Delhi were 106 for no wicket with Shewag on 64, scoring most the runs.

Though Muraitharan bowled tight at one end, Delhi were scoring in the other end. Finally, Joginder gave the break through when Shewag tried upper cut, was caught at third man by Muralitharan. He was out for 71 off 41 balls with 7 fours and 4 sixes.

deVillers was struggling at one end and Chennai was utilizing it. Gambhir reached his 50 in 35 balls with 5 fours and a six. He was soon out bowled by Gony for 50 in 37 balls. At the end of 15 overs, Delhi were 142 for 2, requiring 28 from 30 balls.

With the last three overs requiring 16, Gony gave just 2 runs in the crucial 18th over. With 12 balls and 14 required, Dhoni went in favor Morkel, who gave all the runs in that over. He started with a wide and then gave a two, one, and four in the first 3 balls. With 9 balls more, 6 runs required, he conceded two continuous twos and the target was 2 runs of 7 balls. The last ball was a full toss hit over mid wicket for 4 by Dhawan to giv Delhi the winning points.

I am disapointed with the result of the match. Though Chennai Super Kings had all the chances of winning, I though poor captaincy by Dhoni lead to this failure. He should have decided to bowl considering the batting strength of Delhi, poor field setting, where the batsman were running twos very easily placing the ball in the gap and also to the fielder, who were running from the boundary.

Earlier, winning the toss and deciding to bat, McGrath was at his best as usual. He dominated the opening attack. Stephen Fleming, playing his first match not able to do much against him. He was bowled by first ball of Mahesh which was a no ball. He hit the next ball, the free hit to a bounday, which again was a no ball. The next free hit was a four again. But he was out in the next proper ball, bowled through inner edge.

Parthiv Patel and Vidyut took the responsbility of building the innings for Chennai. Both of them struggled though they scored few boundaries. At the end of the power play, Chennai were 47 for 1.

Patel fell in the first ball of Shewag, caught at short third man for 21 off 20 balls with 3 fours.

At the end of 10 overs, Chennai Super Kings were 82 for 2 with Dhoni on 7 and Vidyut on 35. The 11th over of the innings was the costly over, bowled by Shewag where he gave two sixes--one by Vidyut and the other by Dhoni. They should have built the momentum from there, but the opporunity was missed.

Vidyut reached 50 in his first match itself off 31 balls. Should really appreciate Shewag for the way he rotated the bowlers. McGrath provided the break through by taking Vidyut's wicket caught by Mahesh at covers. McGrath finished his spell with 1 for 21 in four overs. End of 15 overs, Chennai were 126 for 3.

16th over bowled by Mahesh was the good over for Delhi. He gave just one run, that was very costly for Chennai. The last four overs also did not go well for Chennai as they scored just 42 runs where much more than was expected. Dhoni was out in the 18th over trying to hit a six over long off. He was caught by Shoaib Malik off Mohammad Asif for 32 off 27 balls with 2 fours and a six. Raina was run out in the next over. The ball was near the stumps when he called for a single from non-strikers end, but Sangwan was quick to hit the stumps. In the same over, Morkel hit two sixes to take the score to 158 for 5.

In the last over bowled by Bhatia, Chennai lost Morkel caught by Shewag at short third man. The last ball was a six by Badrinath, the only ball he faced.

Chennai ended their innings with 169 for 6, not a big total for Chepauk wicket. Shewag was rightly chosen for the man of the match--the destructor.

Match 20
Venue: Chennai
Date: May 2, 2008
Teams: Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Daredevils
Captains: Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virendra Shewag
Toss: Kings XI Punjab and decided to field
Result: Delhi Daredevils won by 8 wickets with 6 balls to spare
Man of the Match: Virendra Shewag off Delhi Daredevils (India)
Points: Delhi Daredevils-2; Chennai Super Kings-0
Score:
Chennai Super Kings 169 for 6 in 20 overs (PA Patel 21, SP Fleming 13, S Vidyut 54, MS Dhoni 32, JA Morkel 28, SK Raina 3, S Badrinath 11 not out, Joginder Sharma 0 not out, Extras—7 (wide 5, nb 2), GD McGrath 4-0-21-1, Mohammad Asif 4-0-34-1, VY Mahesh 4-0-31-1, P Sangwan 4-0-40-0, Shoaib Malik 1-0-11-0, V Sehwag 2-0-21-1, R Bhatia 1-0-11-1) lost to Delhi Daredevils 172 for 2 in 19 overs (G Gambhir 50, V Sehwag 71, AB de Villiers 26 not out, S Dhawan 19 not out, Extras—6 (b 1, lb 1, wide 2, nb 2), M Ntini 4-0-29-0, M Gony 4-0-39-1, JA Morkel 4-0-40-0, Joginder Sharma 3-0-35-1, M Muralitharan 4-0-27-0)

Match 8: Chennai Super Kings wins the Thriller!

Chennai Super Kings have won their 2nd match by 6 runs in a close game against Mumbai Indians in Chennai. Chasing a target of 209 in 20 overs, Mumbai Indians came close towards the last 5 overs. Nayar and Harbhajan Singh showed some light to the Mumbai Indians, but Super Kings had the last laugh.

Requiring 19 runs of the last over, Nayar hit two consecutive boundaries of the first two balls to bring down the target to 11 runs in 4 balls. With the 3rd ball being a no ball and a run scored, the runs required came down to 9 of 4 balls. Nehra missed the free hit and scored a single of the the next delivery. With 8 runs required 2 balls, Nayar didn't score run and the last ball was a single. Joginder Sharma bowled well one more time in a crucial chase. He bowled the last over against Pakistan in the T20 final and won the game for India.

Earlier, Hayden scored 81 runs of 46 balls with 12 fours and 2 sixes to grab the man of the match award. Raina and Dhoni scored 53 off 37 balls and 30 off 16 balls respectively, which helped Chennai to go beyond 200 runs for the 2nd time.

It was surprising that Harbhajan didn't bowl is quota of 4 overs. In fact, he was the most economical bowler with 7 runs per over. He would have decided not to bowl considering the heavy dew in the ground and he could not get the grip of the ball.

For complete innings score and scores at the end of over, wicket description, click here!

Match 8
Venue: Chennai
Date: April 23, 2008
Teams: Chenani Super Kings v. Mumbai Indians
Captains: Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh
Toss: Mumbai Indians and decided to field
Result: Chennai Super Kings won by 6 runs
Man of the Match: Mathew Hayden of Chennai Super Kings (Australia)
Points: Chennai Super Kings-2; Mumbai Indians-0
Score:
Chennai Super Kings 208 for 5 in 20 overs (PA Patel 14, ML Hayden 81, MEK Hussey 5, SK Raina 53, MS Dhoni 30, JDP Oram 5 not out, S Badrinath 2 not out, Extras 18--b 4, lb 3, wide 9, nb 2, SM Pollock 3-0-32-0, A Nehra 4-0-35-1, DS Kulkarni 3-0-25-1, Harbhajan Singh 2-0-14-0, DJ Bravo 3-0-36-0, VS Yeligati 1-0-16-0, AM Nayar 1-0-14-0, MA Khote 3-0-29-2) beat Mumbai Indians 202 for 7 in 20 overs (L Ronchi 2, ST Jayasuriya 20, RV Uthappa 43, SM Pollock 17, DJ Bravo 24, AM Nayar 45 not out, MA Khote 9, Harbhajan Singh 28, A Nehra 1 not out, Extras 13--lb 5, wide 6, nb 2, JDP Oram 4-0-53-0, M Gony 4-1-18-1, Joginder Sharma 4-0-29-2, P Amarnath 4-0-57-1, M Muralitharan 4-0-40-2)

Match 2: Mike Hussey's Hundred Helps Chennai Super Kings Victory!

Mike Hussey scored a brilliant hundred, the fastest hundred of this tournament and built a strong foundation to Chennai Super Kings innings. The good toss was won by Dhoni and he decided to bat first. The two openres--Parthiv Patel and Hayden gave a good start. Patel was the first to go before he hit 3 consecutive fours of Sreesanth. It was a short of length, raising well and a speedy delivery from Lee, which took the outside edge and flew to keeper. Hayden looking good was bowled by inner edge off Irfan Pathan.

Dhoni, the highest paid player of IPL did not prove his worth in this match. He was judged leg before for 1, though the replay showed inner edge.

Raina played sensibly along with Hussey, who crossed his 50 off 31 balls with 4 fours and 3 sixes. Raina fired a quick 32 off 13 balls with 2 fours and 3 sixes that helped Chennai to add more runs to the board. They were maintaining a run rate of 10 per over throughout the game. Oram was out for 13 off 10 balls paving way to Badrinath.

Badrinath and Hussey added 73 runs for the 6th wicket in 27 balls. Badrinath hit 17 runs in the last over bowled by Praveen Kumar and Hussey hit 8 runs. Hussye crossed his 100 in 50 balls with 8 fours and 7 sixes. He finished his innings at 116 not out off 54 balls with 8 fours and 9 sixes. Badrinath was not out on 31 off 14 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes.

Piyush Chawla conceeded 19 runs in his 1 over, Hopes gave 53 runs in his 4 overs with a wicket.

The chase of 241 is almost impossible to get, but the fighting innings by Hopes, once again did not help his team to taste the victory. The last time he played a similar fighting innings was against Indian in the second Commonwealth Bank Series final, which India won. Similary, his valiant innings for Pubjab Kings XI did not help them as they lost by 33 runs. His reached his 50 in just 24 balls with 8 fours and 2 sixes. Sangakkara also scored a good fifty in 29 balls.

Though Pubjab reached the 100 in 9.2 overs, it was not enough to reach 240 in 20 overs. Requiring 91 runs in 38 balls was almost impossible and Pubjab Kings XI lead by Yuvaraj Singh surrendered to Chennai lead by Dhoni.

Muralitharan was the economical bowler for Chennai. He gave away 33 runs in 4 overs with the wicket of his Sri Lanka team mate Sangakkara.

Man of the Match was given to Hussey for his wonderful hundred.

Match 2
Venue: Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh
Date: April 19, 2008
Teams: Kings XI Punjab v. Chennai Super Kings
Captains: Yuvaraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Toss: Chennai Super Kings and decided to bat
Result: Chennai Super Kings won by 33 runs
Man of the Match: MEK Hussey of Chennai Super Kings (Australia)
Points: Chennai Super Kings-2; Kings XI Punjab-0
Score:
Chennai Super Kings 240 for 5 in 20 overs (PA Patel 15, Hayden 25, MEK Hussey 116 Not Out, Dhoni 2, SK Raina 32, Jacob Oram 13, S Badrinath 31 Not Out, Extras 6--lb 2, wide 3, no ball 1, Brett Lee 4-0-35-1, S Sreesanth 3-0-35-0, Hopes 4-0-53-1, Irfan Pathan 4-0-47-2, K Goel 2-0-25-0, Piyush Chawla 1-0-19-0, WA Mota 2-0-24-1) beat Kings XI Punjab 207 for 4 in 20 overs (K Goel 24, Hopes 71, Sangakkara 54, Yuvaraj Singh 23, SM Katich 21 not out, Irfan Pathan 3 not out, Extras 11--b 2, lb 4, wide 5, Jacob Oram 4-0-37-0, M Gony 4-0-42-1, Muralitharan 4-0-33-1, P Amarnath 4-0-42-1, Joginder Sharma 4-0-47-1)