 Chennai Super Kings outclass Kings XI Punjab
1st Jun 2008 08:00 IST
Agencies
Earlier, Chennai pacers ripped apart the strong Punjab top-order and restricted them to a paltry total.
Everything went wrong for Preity Zinta?s side after captain Yuvraj Singh opted to bat first on winning the toss and half their side was back in the dugout with only 40 on the board.
Poor batting coupled with some good seam bowling did the trick.
Man of the Match Makhaya Ntini and Manpreet Gony rocked the high-flying Punjab side with a double strike each which reduced Yuvraj?s men to 34/4 in the sixth over.
Ntini started the domination when he had Hopes caught behind chasing an outswinger for two.
Then Gony dismissed Kumar Sangakkara in similar fashion, caught by wicket keeper Patel.
In a show of sportsmanship, Sangakkara chose to walk. He seemed to have missed a drive off a ball from Gony, but walked off even though the ?keeper did not appeal at all.
Things became grimmer when captain Yuvraj pulled Gony, who bowled an excellent four-over spell for figures of 2/14, straight to Muttiah Muralitharan at wide mid-on to leave them gasping at 28/3.
But the biggest blow was when South African pacer Ntini dismissed Punjab batting mainstay Shaun Marsh in his third over.
The left-handed opener from Western Australia attempted to pull a ball from wide of his stumps but only managed to get an under-edge that crashed on to the stumps to the absolute delight of the Chennai Super Kings players.
Down in the dumps, Punjab lost Pathan in a horrible mix up with Mahela Jayawardene who refused to respond to the former's call for a third run. The long throw from Ntini, who dived to stop a boundary, came handy for running out Pathan when he was stranded at mid-pitch.
Punjab, tottering at 40/5 at Pathan's dismissal, lost their sixth wicket when Jayawardene, with his poise upset at Pathan's run-out and open show of anger while walking back, tried to glide Albie Morkel and top-edged to Patel who grabbed his third catch.
At 45/6, there was a possibility of Punjab doing worse than what Kolkata Knight Riders had done (67 all out; the lowest score of IPL) against Mumbai Indians at the same venue on May 16.
This was averted with Wilkin Mota (25 off 26 balls) and Ramesh Powar (28 off 22 balls) leading the way by adding 35 runs for the eighth wicket.
The duo took advantage of some below-par performance by the Chennai team in the field to take the score close to 100 before Mota was out.
Powar helped boost the tally by creaming Lakshmipathy Balaji for three fours in the last over from which 14 runs were scored.
Ntini got 2/23 in his four overs bowled on the trot, Morkel ended up with 2/27 while Muralitharan, who bowled the first over of the innings, finished with 1/19.
Sunday's summit clash for the top prize of USD 1.2 million between Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, who had beaten Delhi Daredevils in an equally comprehensive fashion by 105 runs in the first semifinal Friday night, would be held at the D Y Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. |
