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Chennai Super Kings claw their way back in IPL 5 by registering the victory over Deccan Chargers

on May 5, 2012 5:53 am in Cricket News, Cricket Religion News, Indian Premier League / no comments

The winner of last two IPL seasons, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have had a rough going in this season, winning only four matches out of their first 10 matches, and questions were raised whether they would qualify for the play-offs. But on Friday, CSK notched up 10-run victory against feeble Deccan Chargers (DC) to keep their hopes alive in the tournament. The performance from CSK wasn’t exactly spectacular but gaffes from DC expedite their triumphant.

CSK skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat first. Murali Vijay’s struggle with the bat continued and he once again failed to make any impact. Though, he struck a couple of boundaries but he couldn’t capitalize on it and was out attempting a pull. Faf du Plessis has been in terrific form in this IPL and he once again came good while Suresh Raina, the most successful batsman in the IPL history, had not performed upto his potential in IPL 5 but on Friday he got into the groove and unleashed a sparkling innings.

Cameron White cracked blistering 77 runs off 53 balls but the despicable fielding from Deccan Chargers scuppered his plucky endeavour

Veer Pratap Singh was put to sword by Raina as he caned Pratap Singh for a couple of sixes and a boundary in an over. Pratap Singh rolled out a couple of short ball to exploit Raina’s weakness but he doesn’t have the pace to trouble the batsmen and Raina pounced on him.

Du Plessis wasn’t as rumbustious as Raina but he did smash the boundaries whenever he got the opportunity. And to compound the matters, DC’s fielding was yet again abysmal. They dropped five catches and there were several mis-fields. Du Plessis was dropped twice. Raina was finally dismissed by Amit Mishra as he tried to hammer the six but didn’t time it as well as he would have liked and he was caught at long-on boundary by Abhishek Jhunjhunwala.

After 10 overs, CSK were 2-82 and the humungous total was on the cards. Dhoni promoted himself up the batting order and came to bat at no. 4. He was quick between the wicket and pounded Daniel Christian through the covers for a boundary. Du Plessis was out after scoring 42 off 35 balls. He tried to accelerate the run-rate but was caught at deep mid-wicket.

The wicket at a crucial juncture hampered CSK’s progress and foiled the momentum of the innings. Jhunjhunwala who bowled decently cleaned up Morne Morkel who was promoted in the batting order while Dale Steyn and Christian unfurled superb three overs on the trot in which only 15 runs were made. Ravindra Jadeja looked like the cat on the hot bricks and failed to give the impetus CSK was looking for.

Jadeja’s agony came to an end in the 19^th over and Dhoni was dismissed on the first ball of the 20^th over. Ankit Sharma dropped a sitter on the third ball; the batsman was Bravo. The dropped catch proved costly as Bravo bludgeoned the next ball for a six and pilfered a couple of doubles on the last two balls. CSK made 6-160 in 20 overs.

DC’s start wasn’t inspiring as Parthiv Patel was bowled by Morkel in the second over but Shikhar Dhawan, DC’s most consistent batsman in IPL 5, and Cameron White compiled a neat partnership scoring at a fair pace without taking much risk. Both Dhawan and White thwacked. After six overs, DC were 1-47 in six overs. Dhawan and White continued to accumulate runs without any fuss and DC sprinted to 1-76 after 10 overs. White played Ravichandran Ashwin with ease and was especially good on the back-foot against the spinners.

Just when both the batsmen looked like taking the game away from CSK, an unfortunate run-out turned the match around. In the 11^th over, White punched the ball straight back to the bowler Bravo; the ball was struck with ferocious power and Bravo couldn’t catch it but the ball deflected from his hands and hit the stumps at the non-striker end and Dhawan was out of the crease by a mile.

In the next over, Raina showed DC that how catches win matches. He grabbed the screamer off his own bowling to send Kumar Sangakkara back to the pavilion. Due to fall of two quick wickets, White slowed down and Christian took some to settle. Only 16 runs came between 10-14 overs. Christian broke the shackles by creaming a six off Ben Hilfenhaus in the 15^th over but not many runs came from 16^th and 17^th over and DC were left to score 47 runs from last three overs. White clobbered Jadeja for a couple of sixes and a boundary and winkled out 18 runs from the 18^th over. Another run-out was effected in the 19^th over and this time it was White who became the victim. He whacked 77 off 53 balls.

20 runs needed from the last over and Christian started off well by hitting the boundary off the first ball through fine-leg but Hilfenhaus didn’t panic and bowled the next three balls according to the field; full-pitched deliveries outside the off-stump. Ashish Reddy was out on the fourth ball and DC needed 12 runs on the last two balls to tie the match. It was asking for too much and DC just managed singles from the last two balls as CSK chalked up their fifth victory of the tournament. CSK is now placed fourth on the points table. Delhi Daredevils is at the top with eight wins in 10 matches.

Brief Scorecard: Chennai Super Kings 160 for 6 (du Plessis 42) beat Deccan Chargers 150 for 5 (White 77) by 10 runs

Man-of-the-Match: Suresh Raina