Chennai Back in Action

After a series of losses Super Kings are back in action. With a win over powerful opponents Bangalore they keep their hopes of semifinal spot alive. Chennai’s bowling attack lead by Murali managed to restrict Bangalore batting line-up to 161 and the local lad Murali Vijay played superbly and provided Chennai a rocking start.

Murali Vijay scored a 39-ball 78 which includes 4 fours and 6 sixes. Vijay’s knock demonstrated his gift for timing.  There were no slogs; his strokes on both sides of the wicket were a product of a keen eye and fluid bat-swing. The opener was severe on Praveen Kumar, and took 24 off his second over and that set a perfect tone for Chennai.

At that stage, Vijay was on 31 from 16 balls, and Matthew Hayden on zero from one ball a very unlikely situation for Hayden and fans who were expecting a Mongoose show. Anil Kumble brought himself on and dismissed Hayden, leaving the left-hander stranded yards down the wicket with a googly and was one of the best balls of tournament so far.

But Vijay carried on his assault and swung Kevin Pietersen’s off-breaks for three sixes in two overs before skying one to Manish Pandey at long-on and left Chennai 58 to get in 10.1 overs. The wickets of Dhoni, Morkel and Badrinath added some thrill but Raina (44 from 35 balls) with his good composure saw them home with an over to spare.

Earlier Bangalore batting failed to put up a winning score on board. With Pitersen and White in line-up and a score of 115-2 in 14 overs they should have scored 15-20 runs more than what they did. The left-arm spinner from Goa dented their progress in 16th over, a wicket-maiden saw Virat Kohli and Jacques Kallis depart at the same score after a 63-run stand. Kallis the orange cap holder scored 52 runs before getting run-out.

The spin duo of Murali and Jakati did it for Chennai. In their quota of 8 overs they conceded only 38 runs and took 2 wickets. On the other hand Bangalore were short of spin option.  Kumble bowled his 4 for 16-1 but Chennai compensated this with a counter attack on Kumars and part-time bowler Pitersen.

This win will do well for Chennai’s confidence which was on low after series of losses. Hayden and Dhoni are still due for runs. Availability of Bollinger will give MSD a good option in bowling department. They still have to win at least 4 of their last 6 games to make it to semifinals and with win over Bangalore now they have momentum with them, hope it works for them.

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