Chennai Super Kings beat Pune Warriors by 13 runs
Hosts Chennai Super Kings held their nerve to post a crucial 13-run victory over Pune Warriors at the MA Chidambaram on Thursday.
Chasing 165 to win, Warriors were never allowed to settle down by the defending champions.
Super Kings kept plucking away wickets at regular intervals to push Warriors onto the back foot. Needing 100 from the final 10 overs was always going to be a tall ask for the visitors.
That none of the Warriors' batsmen were able to capitalise on their starts, also affected their pursuit. Super Kings, on the other hand, were spot on with their fielding.
With 25 more needed to win from two overs, Doug Bollinger delivered an outstanding over to tilt the scale in Super King’s favour.
The Australian left-arm speedster gave away a measly four runs and also picked up the crucial wicket of Steve Smith.
Earlier, for the first dozen-odd overs of the match, there wasn’t bloodshed at the MAC -- just batting as the classicists had designed.
There weren’t many mindless cross-batted thwacks but mostly copybook cricket. Propelled by half-centuries by openers, Chennai Super Kings registered a challenging 164 for five against Pune Warriors.
Faf Du Plessis (58, 48b, 4x4, 2x6) and S. Badrinath 57 (48b, 8x4) set a solid platform by adding 116 runs in 15.3 overs for the first wicket. MS Dhoni, in his 100th T20 match as captain, finished the innings with a flurry of plundering hits to remain unbeaten on a quick-fire 28 (12b, 3x4, 1x6).
Super Kings had to wait for 33 deliveries before they scored their first six of the innings. It was provided by Du Plessis who effortlessly carted medium-pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar over long-on.
The duo, however, did not really need muscle power to collect their runs. Badrinath, who was asked to open in place of regular opener M. Vijay, took to the role as fish to water.
The Indian batsman matched Du Plessis run to run with delicate hits to the fence.
At the halfway stage, Super Kings were well-placed at 68 without loss -- with their first 50 runs coming in 7.4 overs. Du Plessis reached his half century in 42 deliveries which included four hits to the rope and one over it.
The South African, adding eight more runs to his individual tally, was eventually out caught at midwicket by Angelo Mathews off Marlon Samuel’s bowling. Badrinath followed suit in the same over (16th of the innings) after playing an impressive knock.
For Warriors, wicketkeeper Robin Uthappa resembled every inch a panic-stricken fielder. He let Badrinath off the hook by missing stumping chances on two occasions.
On the second blunder off Murali Karthik’s last over, Badrinath was gone for all money but Uthappa erred by charging towards the ball instead of collecting it with soft hands.
Ashish Nehra and Samuels were the pick of the bowlers. However, Samuels last over destroyed his analysis, which were impressive until that point.
The West Indian, who had picked two scalps after conceding 21 runs in his previous three overs, was plundered for 18 runs in his and his team’s final over.
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