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Super Kings has the last laugh

S. Dinakar

Mumbai Indians makes a gallant bid, but falls short

— Photo: V. Ganesan

IN FULL FLOW: Matthew Hayden’s brilliant knock ensured a big total for Chennai Super Kings.

Chennai: In a format created to favour batsmen and big hitting, a bowler won the match for Chennai Super Kings at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium here on Wednesday.

Young paceman Manpreet Singh Goni’s four immaculate overs at the beginning of the Mumbai Indians’ innings proved the decisive spell in a crucial Indian Premier League duel in front of a packed audience.

Bowling with control and working around the basics, Goni conceded just 18 runs in his four overs. Super Kings won but not before surviving a scare after some hectic hitting by Abhishek Nayar (45 n.o., 20b, 6x4, 1x6) and skipper Harbhajan Singh in the end overs. A barrage of fours and sixes brought Mumbai Indians desperately close.

Joginder Sharma, once again, was alive at the death.

Second win

Defending 208, the host clinched a thriller by six runs for its second successive victory in the competition. Mumbai Indians is without a win in two games.

Mumbai Indians faltered at the start. S. Badrinath scored a direct hit from point to catch Luke Ronchi short of the crease at the non-striker’s end. Not much later, key man Sanath Jayasuriya was unable to pick the impressive Manpreet Singh Goni’s change of pace.

Goni bowled tight from one end, but Jacob Oram suffered at the other as Robin Uthappa (43 off 36 balls) cut loose. The batsman displayed power and finesse before swishing at a delivery from Joginder Sharma to lose his leg stump.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni shuffled his bowlers, led with a combination of instinct and foresight. With the ability to get his deliveries to skid off the surface, Joginder can be a dicey bowler in this format and Dhoni used him to break partnerships.

A youngster like Palani Amarnath held his nerve — after being struck for a six — to castle Pollock.

Left is right

Earlier, left was just right for the Super Kings. Matthew Hayden & Co disrupted Mumbai Indians’ line of attack.

The bowlers, it must be conceded, were also hampered by the dew factor. So much so that frontline spinner and the side’s skipper, Harbhajan Singh, restricted himself to just two overs.

Hayden (81, 46b, 12x4, 2x6), who was adjudged the Man-of –the-Match, was not complaining.

He delighted a large and colourful gathering with ferocious pulls and audacious on-the-walk drives as Super Kings made 208 for five against Mumbai Indians sans the injured Sachin Tendulkar.

On a night of drum-beats, music and dance, Suresh Raina, another southpaw, also sizzled with a rollicking 37-ball 53. Then, the right-handed skipper, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, powered the innings during the last stretch with a 16-ball 30.

Hayden’s bat swing is a thing of beauty. The left-hander was effortless in the manner in which he dumped Shaun Pollock over the long-on fence. The Aussie also nailed a mini-duel at the start of the innings.

Pollock was smashed early, going for 21 in his first two overs. He had the rub of the green as well when an inside edge off Nayar the ball settled inside ’keeper Ronchi’s pads was ruled not out by umpire Daryl Harper.

The ease with which Hayden picks the length provides him with loads of time. Typically, he sauntered down the track for a savage front-footed pull off Aashish Nehra.

The big man also displayed delicate touch, slicing Nehra over the in-field square on the off-side.

When Dwayne Bravo was introduced, Hayden blasted him down the ground, forcing Raina to take evasive action.

Raina joins the party

Raina did not miss out on action either. His savage hit over the cover fence, on one knee, off Harbhajan Singh, was arguably the shot of the innings. Raina was fluent, thought on his feet, and found the gaps. He was ruthless when Nayar pitched short.

Before Raina (53, 37b, 3x4, 3x6) was taken in the deep, he had added 104 in 63 balls with Hayden in a rollicking third-wicket partnership.

Earlier, left-handed opener Parthiv had a slice of luck when he slashed at Nehra to find the snick flying over slip.

Nehra eventually snared the southpaw outside the off-stump. Soon, Michael Hussey missed and lively Dhaval Kulkarni hit the stumps.

The scores:

Chennai Super Kings: Parthiv c Ronchi b Nehra 14, M. Hayden (run out) 81, M. Hussey b Dhaval 5, S. Raina c Bravo b Khote 53, M.S. Dhoni c Bravo b Khote 30, J. Oram (not out) 5, S. Badrinath (not out) 2, Extras (b-4, lb-3, w-9, nb-2): 18; Total (for five wkts. in 20 overs) 208.

Fall of wickets: 1-34, 2-39, 3-143, 4-194, 5-206.

Mumbai Indians bowling: Pollock 3-0-32-0, Nehra 4-0-35-1, Dhaval 3-0-25-1, Harbhajan 2-0-14-0, Bravo 3-0-36-0, Yeligati 1-0-16-0, Nayar 1-0-14-0, Khote 3-0-29-2.

Mumbai Indians: L. Ronchi (run out) 2, S. Jayasuriya c Joginder b Gony 20, R. Uthappa b Joginder 43, S. Pollock b Amarnath 17, D. Bravo c Oram b Joginder 24, A. Nayar (not out) 45, M. Khote c Raina b Muralitharan 9, Harbhajan c Badrinath b Muralitharan 28, A. Nehra (not out) 1; Extras (lb-5, w-6, nb-2): 13; Total (for seven wkts. in 20 overs) 202.

Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-30, 3-81, 4-97, 5-130, 6-141, 7-189.

Chennai Super Kings bowling: Oram 4-0-53-0, Gony 4-1-18-1, Joginder 4-0-29-2, Amarnath 4-0-57-1, Muralitharan 4-0-40-2.

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