CAPE TOWN: Indian teams continued with their bad run at the Champions League as Chennai Super Kings suffer their 2nd straight loss in the match, this time to Highveld Lions. Of the 4 IPL teams playing, only Delhi Daredevils have won a game against Kolkata Knight Riders.
The Highveld Lions bent yet another well-compiled chase, reaching their target of 159 with 3 balls to spare. A couple of night ago, they had beaten the star-studded Mumbai Indians, with Quinton de Kock and Neil McKenzie smashes fifties. Tonight, it was Gulam Bodi’s turn to be the hero with the bat.
The temperature at Cape Town was less than 20 degrees Celsius. The situation was chilly and damp again. With Chennai’s spinners struggling to get a grip on the white ball, Bodi revitalized the innings after a poor start in which they had lost Alvio Petersen and de Kock inexpensively.
Bodi and McKenzie set up the chase wonderfully. They added 93 runs in just 10.3 overs with Bodi doing the bulk of the scoring. Bodi, born in Hathuran, a village near the West Indian city of Surat, tore into Chennai’s spinners. His and McKenzie’s wickets didn’t slow down the Lions. Jean Symes and Chris Morris completed off the match, scoring the 20 runs needed off the last 2 overs.
Left-arm spinner Aaron Phangiso has beat against the IPL teams. Against Mumbai Indians he dismissed Sachin Tendulkar and bowled economically. Today, he set Murali Vijay up with a beautiful straight ball. He walked to an LBW shout.
Phangiso then hit Ravindra Jadeja in the air, causing him to mistime a slog to long-on. The Lions spinner bowled out economically again.
Chennai’s stop-start innings gather some pace in the end with Badrinath fast 27 in which he clubbed sixes on either side of midwicket. Captain Dhoni was with him, making 34 and adding 52 runs with Badrinath to end off the innings satisfactorily. But despite a strong new ball attack, Chennai failed to defend the score.
Score Details
CHENNAI SUPER KINGS: 158/6
Highest Score
MS Dhoni -34
Subramaniam Badrinath-27
Highest Wickets
Aaron Phangiso-4 over 17 runs 2 wickets
HIGH VELD LIONS: 159/4
Highest Score
Gulam Bodi -64
Jean Symes -39
Wickets
Doug Bollinger-4 over 18 runs 2 wickets
Man of the Match
Aaron Phangiso
