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Cricket News
Dhoni takes Super Kings to semifinals
Captain courageous Dhoni smashed his team through to the semis with a belligerent innings against Kings XI, chasing a daunting 192 to win at Dharamshala.
Chasing 192 was never going to be easy and Sangakkara’s gamble of bringing in Ramesh Powar as the opening bowler made it even more difficult for Chennai. Powar bowled a brilliant spell of 3 overs to reduce Chennai to 37-2 in 5 overs. He gave away just 17 runs in 3 overs and dismissed both Hayden – who nicked a ball that was spinning away to the keeper and Vijay – who tried to flick a delivery on his pads, missed to connect, over balanced and was found out of the crease by the wicketkeeper Sangakkara.
The Chennai team had everything to lose now and had to give it one last shot. Raina came in with murderous intent and smashed Pawar for 2 boundaries immediately. He then slapped a short delivery by VRV Singh for a six over long-off. Badrinath too had the same intent and started his attack. He started off with a beautiful cover driven boundary off VRV Singh and then spoiled Pawar’s figures by smashing him for a six over wide long-on. The 2 batsmen continued their belligerence as they took CSK to 86-2 in 9 overs. Theron came in and spoilt the party, as he dismissed Raina for 46 off 27 deliveries. Raina’s excellent timing worked against him as he hit inside-out to a length delivery and timed it straight down sweeper cover’s throat.
Though Dhoni started off with a boundary, he started playing second fiddle to Badrinath. Badrinath was the set man and he kept up the pace with boundaries. He smashed Theron for 14 runs in his second over and kept picking a boundary each over to keep Chennai in the hunt. Finally his innings was ended by Chawla as he tried to slog sweep from outside the crease, missed the delivery and Sangakkara was quick to take off the bails. Badrinath had made 53 off 36 balls and now the onus was on Dhoni to take Chennai home. But it was going to be tough as they needed 44 runs in 18 balls. It was Morkel who started the party, as he smashed VRV Singh for 2 boundaries and took 15 overs from the 18th over.
Then with 2 overs to go, Dhoni walloped the first 2 deliveries from Theron for boundaries, one past mid-wicket and the other over the bowlers head. He managed to squeeze 13 runs from the over and retained the strike. With 16 runs to go Pathan came in to bowl the last over. Dhoni looked like a man on a mission as he powered the first delivery, which was a Yorker, wide of long-off for a four. He edge the next delivery but managed to take 2 runs. He smashed the next ball, which was over-pitched, so hard that it went miles over long-off for a tremendous six. With 4 runs to take off 3 deliveries, Dhoni finished it off in style as he hit the next ball, which was a length delivery, way over long-on for another six. He had reached his fifty with that stroke and take Chennai into the semis.
Earlier, after putting Kings XI into bat Chennai started off with seamers and Jayawardene and Marsh started off smashing 34 in 3 overs. Fortunately for CSK, Tyagi pulled off an amazing catch to dismiss Jayawardene. After that Sangakkara and Marsh played sensibly to take Punjab to 86-1 in 10 overs. Ashwin, again, was the pick of the bowlers as he dismissed Sangakkara for 33 and had figures of 3 overs, for 12 runs and a wicket. Yuvraj singh didn’t trouble the scorers much as he was dismissed for 1 by Raina. Shaun Marsh than started the offensive as he hit both Jakati and Raina for a six and a four in their overs to take 14 runs in each over. He reached his 50 in 41 deliveries and went on to make 88 off 57 deliveries to take Kings XI to a monstrous 192. Irfan Pathan had also come to the party with his bat, as he smashed 44 off 27 deliveries. Bollinger and Morkel both had especially bad figures as they were hit for 48 and 39 runs respectively in their 4 over spells.
With this ended the sorry campaign of the Kings XI in this year’s IPL. Chennai effectively also knocked out Kolkata as they would now have to win really big against the Mumbai Indians if they have any chance of going through.
Chasing 192 was never going to be easy and Sangakkara’s gamble of bringing in Ramesh Powar as the opening bowler made it even more difficult for Chennai. Powar bowled a brilliant spell of 3 overs to reduce Chennai to 37-2 in 5 overs. He gave away just 17 runs in 3 overs and dismissed both Hayden – who nicked a ball that was spinning away to the keeper and Vijay – who tried to flick a delivery on his pads, missed to connect, over balanced and was found out of the crease by the wicketkeeper Sangakkara.
The Chennai team had everything to lose now and had to give it one last shot. Raina came in with murderous intent and smashed Pawar for 2 boundaries immediately. He then slapped a short delivery by VRV Singh for a six over long-off. Badrinath too had the same intent and started his attack. He started off with a beautiful cover driven boundary off VRV Singh and then spoiled Pawar’s figures by smashing him for a six over wide long-on. The 2 batsmen continued their belligerence as they took CSK to 86-2 in 9 overs. Theron came in and spoilt the party, as he dismissed Raina for 46 off 27 deliveries. Raina’s excellent timing worked against him as he hit inside-out to a length delivery and timed it straight down sweeper cover’s throat.
Though Dhoni started off with a boundary, he started playing second fiddle to Badrinath. Badrinath was the set man and he kept up the pace with boundaries. He smashed Theron for 14 runs in his second over and kept picking a boundary each over to keep Chennai in the hunt. Finally his innings was ended by Chawla as he tried to slog sweep from outside the crease, missed the delivery and Sangakkara was quick to take off the bails. Badrinath had made 53 off 36 balls and now the onus was on Dhoni to take Chennai home. But it was going to be tough as they needed 44 runs in 18 balls. It was Morkel who started the party, as he smashed VRV Singh for 2 boundaries and took 15 overs from the 18th over.
Then with 2 overs to go, Dhoni walloped the first 2 deliveries from Theron for boundaries, one past mid-wicket and the other over the bowlers head. He managed to squeeze 13 runs from the over and retained the strike. With 16 runs to go Pathan came in to bowl the last over. Dhoni looked like a man on a mission as he powered the first delivery, which was a Yorker, wide of long-off for a four. He edge the next delivery but managed to take 2 runs. He smashed the next ball, which was over-pitched, so hard that it went miles over long-off for a tremendous six. With 4 runs to take off 3 deliveries, Dhoni finished it off in style as he hit the next ball, which was a length delivery, way over long-on for another six. He had reached his fifty with that stroke and take Chennai into the semis.
Earlier, after putting Kings XI into bat Chennai started off with seamers and Jayawardene and Marsh started off smashing 34 in 3 overs. Fortunately for CSK, Tyagi pulled off an amazing catch to dismiss Jayawardene. After that Sangakkara and Marsh played sensibly to take Punjab to 86-1 in 10 overs. Ashwin, again, was the pick of the bowlers as he dismissed Sangakkara for 33 and had figures of 3 overs, for 12 runs and a wicket. Yuvraj singh didn’t trouble the scorers much as he was dismissed for 1 by Raina. Shaun Marsh than started the offensive as he hit both Jakati and Raina for a six and a four in their overs to take 14 runs in each over. He reached his 50 in 41 deliveries and went on to make 88 off 57 deliveries to take Kings XI to a monstrous 192. Irfan Pathan had also come to the party with his bat, as he smashed 44 off 27 deliveries. Bollinger and Morkel both had especially bad figures as they were hit for 48 and 39 runs respectively in their 4 over spells.
With this ended the sorry campaign of the Kings XI in this year’s IPL. Chennai effectively also knocked out Kolkata as they would now have to win really big against the Mumbai Indians if they have any chance of going through.
Dhoni takes Super Kings to semifinals
Sun, 18 Apr 2010
Scorecard | Fantasy Scorecard Players/Officials: Irfan Pathan | Kumar Sangakkara | MS Dhoni | Ramesh Powar | Shaun Marsh | Subramaniam Badrinath | Suresh Raina
Teams: Kings XI Punjab | Chennai Super Kings
Tournaments/Series: Indian Premier League 2010
Teams: Kings XI Punjab | Chennai Super Kings
Tournaments/Series: Indian Premier League 2010
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All Cricket Team logos are copyrighted and owned by respective cricket boards and teams.