World Of Sports

The Chennai Super Kings have registered a 6-run victory against the Mumbai Indians here at the MA Chidambaram Stadium at Chepauk, Chennai tonight. Playing in their first home game of the DLF Indian Premier League (IPL), the Dhoni-led outfit faced stern difficulties whilst defending a total of 208 against the Tendulkar-less Mumbai Indians team.

Harbhajan Singh (28 runs from 14 balls) and Abhishek Nayar (45 not out from 20 balls) were instrumental in reigniting their team’s expectations after a middle-order collapse had crashed victory hopes for the Mumbai Indians on the road. The duo added 48 runs for the seventh wicket in just 20 deliveries after the dangerous Muralidaran had dismissed Musavir Khote (9).

In a recurrence of the ICC World Twenty20 final, Joginder Sharma lived upto captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's expectations and sent down a crucial final over. The Mumbai Indians required 19 runs off the last over when Dhoni threw the ball to Joginder. Later at the presentation ceremony, the Indian ODI captain confessed that there was too much dew on the pitch and that it had become too difficult for the bowlers under lights.

Chasing a target of 209, the Indians received their first blow when an agile Subramaniam Badrinath inflicted a run-out in the very first over to dismiss Aussie wicketkeeper-batsman Luke Ronchi (2). Jayasuriya (20) and Uthappa (43) steadied the ship with the former cracking four scintillating boundaries – three of which were long-established ‘Jayasuriya flicks off the pads’ to set the tempo for the run-chase.

Jacob Oram had quite an unmemorable night as he conceded 19 runs off one of his overs while facing up against Robin Uthappa. He was against decimated by Harbhajan Singh in the 18th over of the innings. He eventually conceded as many as 53 runs from his 4-over spell!

Manpreet Gony, who has impressed one and all so far, continued to do so tonight with impressive figures of 1-18 from his four-over spell. The Punjab-born lanky pacer dismissed Jayasuriya when the veteran Sri Lankan mistimed a pull shot with the top edge presenting an easy catch to Joginder Sharma at mid-on. It was the start of the downfall of sorts for the Chennai Super Kings.

In a rather surprising ploy, Mumbai promoted Shaun Pollock to number four in the batting order. The South African added a quickfire 51-run stand with Uthappa for the third-wicket and resurrected his team’s hopes of a fightback. Uthappa was going all guns blazing before he missed a full toss from Joginder Sharma with the ball uprooting his leg stump off the ground. He was dismissed for a sturdy innings of 43 runs off 36 balls – a knock that included six boundaries and a six.

IPL debutant Dwayne Bravo (24) made an impact during his first appearance, smacking Muralidaran for the biggest six of the night during the thirteenth over of the innings when he stepped down the pitch and sent the ball at least a dozen rows over long-on.

Earlier, Super Kings’ power-house opener Matthew Hayden clouted his way to 81 runs from just 46 balls and featured in a century partnership with Suresh Raina (53) as the hosts amassed a healthy total of 208-5 after being precariously placed at 39-2 with Parthiv Patel (14) and Michael Hussey (5) back in the dugout.

The southpaw duo took just about ten overs to stockpile over 100 runs in what went on to surface as a match-winning stand. Raina was eventually dismissed when he holed out to Bravo off seamer Musavir Khote to depart after a 37-ball knock that included three sixes and as many boundaries.

Hayden’s authoritative knock included 12 boundaries and two massive sixes as he proved to be a thorn in the flesh for key nemesis Harbhajan Singh, who led the Mumbai Indians in the absence of regular captain Sachin Tendulkar. Although the Sardar from Jalandhar found some consolation when his direct throw caught Hayden short of the crease towards the end of the Super Kings’ innings.

Put into bat, the Chennai Super Kings got off to a rollicking start with Parthiv Patel (14) and Hayden putting on 34 runs in the first three overs before Ashish Nehra got Parthiv caught behind and five runs later, Mike Hussey (5) too was back in the hut after dragging a Dhaval Kulkarni delivery onto his stumps.

Harbhajan Singh used as many as eight bowlers but none were successful in containing the well heeled and fluent strokeplay of Hayden and Raina tonight. In fact, the off-spinner bowled just two overs himself and conceded just about fourteen runs.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (30) chipped in with a 16-ball cameo to take the side past the 200-mark. Both captains led from the front with Harbhajan also entertaining the crowd at the Chidambaram Stadium with his staggering 14-ball knock of 28 runs.

The Chennai Super Kings have won two-in-two and must be mighty confident going into their next encounter when they host the Kolkata Knight Riders on Saturday. The Mumbai Indians continue to be on the road as they square off against the Kings XI Punjab on Friday at Mohali. Both teams are desperate for their first win of the tournament and it promises to be another cliffhanger of a contest!