What to say and how to describe – it was indeed a stupendous performance put up by the Chennai Super Kings. Warne has paid off a big price for his decision to chase on such a wicket. Though the monster opener Hayden failed to give a blasting start for the CSK, Raina, on his prime form today, paved the way to put up a decent total on the scoreboard. Badrinath, played his role appropriately and stood as a pillar of strength when Raina was going for the big guns.Unfortunately, Badri lost his wicket to a deceiving delivery from the spin king Warne. Then came the skipper Dhoni, calm and composed, took the time to get adapted to the situations. The duo of Dhoni and Raina, though went on a slower pace till the 16th over, managed to boost the score with some mammoth scoring in the last 4 overs. Raina ensured that the loose deliveries sail over the fence with some clean hitting and the only one sixer from Dhoni, flat one, just propelled off his legs with a mighty blow from his willow. The target of 165 was a bit tougher take for the Rajasthan to chase.
Debutant, Sudeep Tyagi, did a fantastic job, keeping the ball in line, with some disciplined seam bowling. Morkel, the local player, aware of the conditions very well, used the seam sensibly, tempted Smith with a half volley outside off and Smith fell in the trap. Though the Royals built some fair partnerships but they were not sufficient enough to chase the big target set by the CSK. Balaji was the pick of the bowlers today, generating some fiery deliveries, that rattled through the middle order of the Royals, and bagged four wickets, out of one was of the danger man Yusuf.The stage after Yusuf fell, the CSK were pretty sure about their way to victory. Ravindra Jadeja, was fighting from one end but did not get the proper support from the other end with wickets falling at regular intervals. Today the team CSK has excelled in its bowling and ensured that they kept it tight and tactic right from the start to end, which made it possible to defend a chase able target.
East or west, Raina was the best today. Scoring an adorable 98 out of just 53 balls, bagging a wicket with his economical bowling, and grabbing two crucial catches was the undoubtedly deserving “Man of the Match”. On a final note, brilliant bowling by Balaji and crew, ecstatic batting by Raina supported by Badri and Dhoni, and some tremendous team work by the CSK has moved them up in the table with an increase in the NRR too.It was a visual treat to all the CSK fans and has given some hope and a reason to cheer that the CSK are still on the race for the IPL semi finals. Stay tuned for the action to continue better and ballistic.
- Bala J
