Dhoni Dhamaka Hurls Chennai into Semis

Posted by Kedar in IPL on 04 19th, 2010 | no responses

The Finisher

It was a make-or-brake game for Man in Yellow; they needed a win against Punjab to get into the semis for third time in a row. For Chennai it was all going in other direction till Dhoni came to party. He played a captain’s knock in a splendid inning of 54 from 29 balls and won a semi final place for his team by chasing an improbable 191.

It looked like an end to Chennai’s campaign when they needed 44 runs form 18 balls but they had the best finisher of the game, captain cool Dhoni at crease. In the 18^th over bowled by VRV Singh, Morkel and Dhoni scored 15 runs. In the next over Dhoni hammered Theron for back to back boundaries but they managed only 13 runs in penultimate over and equation changed to 16 from 6. It was Irfan pathan to bowl the last over. Irfan was trying to bowl a Yorker but he never got it right but Dhoni got it all correct. He clobbered Irfan for 4, 2, 6 and 6 and finished a game 2 balls earlier. Dhoni’s big hit of 3^rd ball of 20^th over went all the way down the valley.

Out of a joy like a boxer, a fighter, a finisher Dhoni punched himself in the jaw. Eventually that was the final punch for Kings of Punjab who had a poor season. Before Dhoni Dhamaka Punjab was in a driving seat and with 191 on board was all set to finish the tournament on high. But that was not the case. After an early loss of Hayden and Murali Vijay, Raina (46 in 27) and Badrinath (53 in 36) kept Chennai in hunt and did not allow run rate to climb up. Badrinath was involved in two crucial partnerships. He along with Raina took Cheanni from shaky position of 28-2 to comfortable 89-3. After Raina’s fall Dhoni joined Badrinath and together they added 59 runs and almost took Chennai home.

Earlier in the day after being asked to bat first, Jayawardene took an attack to opposition from the word go. He hit Tyagi for back to back sixes in the very first over. But in 3^rdover when Jayawardene was hitting Morkel all over park, Tyagi took a full stretch high jump and took a blinder that ended Mahela’s stay. Sangakkara (33) along with Shaun Marsh added 56 runs. Yuvraj continued his short stay at crease and got out for 1. Chennai had their chance at that point but Irafan Pathan (44 in 27) and Shaun Marsh cut loose and hammered Chennai bowlers all around Dharmashala. Marsh’s knock of 88 of 57 balls took Punjab to 191. For once again it was poor performance by Chennai bowlers who leaked too many runs.

At half way through match, it looked Punjab will spoil Super Kings party but Dhoni had a last laugh. Chennai is the only team to qualify for semis in all three IPL seasons. They should have been there earlier but inconsistency and especially a super-over loss against Punjab pushed them to a must-win situation. In the end it was a good net run rate that helped their cause they along with Bangalore and Delhi finished with 14 points but with NRR of +0.27 they finished on 3^rd place and will now face Deccan in second semi final on 22^nd at D.Y. Patil Navi Mumbai.

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