Home team records a much-needed win over table toppers to keep their hopes for a semifinal berth alive.
Chennai Super Kings halted the Mumbai Indians juggernaut at MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Tuesday. Their 24-run win, third in a row and fifth overall in 10 games, has put Yellow Brigade’s campaign in IPL III back on track. A couple of more wins in their last five games should see them through to semifinals.
In a low-scoring game, the hosts defended their not-so-formidable 165 for 4 by restricting Mumbai Indians to 141 for nine. Suresh Raina, who scored a crucial 23 and claimed an important wicket, was declared Man-of-the-Match but there were quite a few heroes for the Yellow Brigade.
It was a total team effort for Chennai. Matthew Hayden (35 off 31 balls), Dhoni (31 off 18 balls), S Badrinath (30 not out off 22 balls) were the key contributors to Chennai total. Dough Bollinger (1 for 39), Sudeep Tyagi (1 for 20), R Ashwin (2 for 22), Thilan Thushara (2 for 16), Shadab Jakati surge (1 for 27) bowled for the team.
On the other hand, there were no substantial contributions from the Mumbai batsmen although the target was not all that big.
Sachin Tendulkar, in his two stints in the middle (he retired hurt because of humidity) made 45 but there was no support for him. West Indians Kieron Pollard (5) and Dwayne Bravo (2) failed miserably. Late in the innings Harbhajan Singh made 33 but it was not enough for Mumbai Indians. Despite the defeat, the Sachin Tendulkar-led team stays at the top of the table. They have seven wins from nine matches.
Earlier, Mumbai restricted Chennai 165 for 4. Most of Chennai batsmen got the start but failed to convert them into big scores. Mumbai bowlers got support from their fielders who did some fine work to deny runs to CSK batsmen. The Chennai top order made a subdued start and last match centurion Murali Vijay was back in the pavilion by the fourth over after dragging a Harbhajan delivery on to his stumps. Hayden was uncharacteristically quiet as Mumbai bowlers did not give him much chance to swing his bat around.
Raina forced the pace. He hoisted Bravo for a huge six in the ninth over but perished two balls later holing out to Shikhar Dhawan at deep midwicket for a 18-ball 23. At the halfway mark, Chennai were 85 for two.
Dhoni, who came in at the fall of Raina, raised the scoring rate with some lusty blows but he was the third man to go after mistiming a slow ball from Pollard. Off the next ball, Hayden’s uneventful innings ended as R Sathish took an easy catch at long on to reduce the home side to 119 for four at the end of 14th over. Badrinath, who denied Pollard a hat-trick and Australian Michael Hussey (15-ball 14), playing in his first IPL III match, failed to provide the final thrust. They added just 41 runs from the last five overs.
Pollard was the most successful Mumbai bowler with two wickets for 27 runs from his four overs. Bravo and Harbhajan took a wicket each.
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