Cricket Tournaments

An uncannily insipid batting effort by Chennai Super Kings allowed Kings XI Punjab to register their first win in a tournament in a game which went into the super over, the first of the tournament. Chasing Punjab’s disappointing 136/8, Chennai were cruising at one stage at 96 for 1, but committed hara-kiri and were left stranded at 136 for seven in the final over.

Juan Theron, who was responsible for getting Punjab back into the game with an excellent spell for 2/17, then capped off a perfect game, claiming Matthew Hayden and Suresh Raina in the super over, conceding just nine runs. Chasing 10 to win, Mahela Jayawardene created further drama when he followed up a lofted six off Muttiah Muralitharan with another airy shot, which landed into the hands of the fielder just short of the boundary. Yuvraj Singh, with a reverse sweep, however ensured that Punjab did not lose this golden opportunity.

With all due credit to Punjab for their first win, it has to be said that Chennai kicked themselves in the foot. After openers Hayden (33) and Pathiv Patel (57) gave them another flying start, they should have easily won the game. However that was not to be. Instead, skipper Raina ran himself out for 15 and Murali Vijay was trapped in front of the stumps for a duck by the impressive Theron.

S Badrinath did not help the team’s cause by edging Yuvraj behind the wickets for 2, Kumar Sangakkara taking a brilliant fumbling catch, standing up to the wickets. Despite the quick loss of wickets, at 104/4 and with Patel still at the crease, Chennai continued to remain favourites. But, the momentum was now with Punjab and they used it to the best possible advantage.

Patel, who was well set having reached his half-century, threw his wicket away, blindly going for a slog against Piyush Chawla, Truly, the pressure had got to him. The remaining batsmen found it equally tougher. Chennai were not helped in the cause as big-hitting Justin Kemp was hurt earlier in the day and could not bat at his usual position.

Instead, Manpreet Gony came in and went without having made much of a contribution and when R Ashwin was dismissed in the final over, try to hit the winning runs, Punjab knew that they had a great chance of pulling it off in the super over.

Chennai’s poor batting effort meant the excellent bowling effort of Muralitharan earlier in the day went in vain. The Sri Lankan great picked up his two countrymen from the opposition – Jayawardene and Sangakkara — and later added Mhd Kaif to his kitty, as Punjab came up with yet another disappointing batting effort. Murali was excellently supported by Albie Morkel, who picked up the other two big fishes from Punjab, Ravi Bopara and Yuvraj.

The Kings XI did experiment with their batting order, sending Irfan Pathan in to the open the innings. It did click as he smashed 39 from 32 balls. However, with Yuvraj (43) being the only other substantial contributor, they could accumulate only 136, good enough on a day Chennai faltered.

The much talked about Mongoose bat made a stinging impact at the Ferozshah Kotla, as Matthew Hayden used it to devastating effect against the Delhi Daredevils. Being set a highly competitive 186, courtesy yet another special effort by Virender Sehwag (74), the Chennai Super Kings got home with little trouble as Haydos used the long handle to great effect in true sense of the word. Stand-in skipper Suresh Raina contributed a crucial, unbeaten 49 to see the side home. But, it was undoubtedly the big-hitting Hayden’s knock of 93 that made the major difference.

The Australian’s splendid innings came off just 43 balls and was punctuated with nine fours and featured an almost unbelievable seven sixes. All the bowlers came in for massive punishment at the hands of Hayden except the ever-dependable Dirk Nannes, who ended with figures of 1/18 from his quota of four overs. From among the rest, Umesh Yadav was spanked for 38, Pradeep Sangwan for 46 and Rajat Bhatia went for as many as 31 from his two overs.

Even when stand-in skipper Dinesh Karthik turned to spin, things didn’t get any better. Hayden launched both Amit Mishra and Tillakaratne Dilshan regularly over the top. And, when he was finally dismissed for 93, captain Raina took over. With no pressure of scoring quickly, he and Murali Vijay, who played a couple of significant lofted shots after the big hitters like Albie Morkel and Justin Kemp fell cheaply, easily guided Chennai to victory.

While both teams missed their regular captains, it was Delhi who had to pay heavily for the loss of Gautam Gambhir. In his absence, only Virender Sehwag could make a noteworthy impact. Though Mithun Manhas (32) and Rajat Bhatia (21 not out) did their best towards the end of the innings, the failure of their middle-order haunted the Daredevils. Also, they seem to be desperately missing the services of the experienced Ashish Nehra.

Without him, Nannes has had to fight a lone battle with the ball in hand. In contrast, Hayden and Raina ensured that they more than made up for MS Dhoni’s absence, at least for this game. And, they would like to continue in the same vein until the skipper is totally fit to take the field.

For Delhi, they would like to see marked improvements in their fielding as well, apart from their bowling. The home side for the match missed a number of run out opportunities and even dropped a couple of catches, which did cost them. Had they hung on to some, who knows the result could have been different or at least the game would have been a lot more competitive in the second half, when Hayden was literally decimating the bowling.

Also, they would like see better performances from the likes of David Warner and, in particular, Dilshan whose lack of form has been hurting them big time. A few runs from stand-in captain Karthik would also help. It is still early days in the tournament, but two indifferent performances in consecutive games doesn’t augur well for the Daredevils.