Badrinath was the anchor and MS Dhoni the attacker as Chennai Super Kings defeated Yorkshire by 4 wickets with 1 over to spare at Kings Mead today to end their Champions League Twenty20 campaign on a high with their 2nd consecutive win.
Chase a target of 141 on a slowest track, CSK lost their opening batsmen - FAF du Plessis and Murali Vijay - inside the first 5 overs with only 26 runs on the board. But, Yorkshire didn't help their cause with some sloppy field and lack of penetrative bowling. Badrinath and stand-in skipper Suresh Raina -31, then got CSK's chase back on track with a 48-run partnership for the 3rd wicket as the pair took their time to play themselves in while revolving the hit, and then went on to play the big shots. The partnership was finished by Oliver Hannon-Dolby (2-23) who had Raina caught by David Miller.
Man of the Match Badrinath (47 runs 38 balls) then shared a quick-fire 43-run partnership with Dhoni, as the great right-hander was on the attack from the outset and hit two massive sixes in his 23-ball 31. Iain
Ward law clean bowled Badrinath behind his legs, but at this stage CSK needed only 24 more runs to win, and Dhoni ensure there wouldn't be any late Yorkshire fight back. He was also spotless bowled by Ward law attempt a helicopter shot when the scores were tied, and then Wriddhiman Saha managed to keep out a yorker as CSK successfully go over the line.
CSK ended their campaign with 2 wins and 2 defeats, while Yorkshire lost 3 matches and had 1 No Result in their maiden CL T20 appearance.
Man of the Match Badrinath (47 runs 38 balls) then shared a quick-fire 43-run partnership with Dhoni, as the great right-hander was on the attack from the outset and hit two massive sixes in his 23-ball 31. Iain
Ward law clean bowled Badrinath behind his legs, but at this stage CSK needed only 24 more runs to win, and Dhoni ensure there wouldn't be any late Yorkshire fight back. He was also spotless bowled by Ward law attempt a helicopter shot when the scores were tied, and then Wriddhiman Saha managed to keep out a yorker as CSK successfully go over the line.
CSK ended their campaign with 2 wins and 2 defeats, while Yorkshire lost 3 matches and had 1 No Result in their maiden CL T20 appearance.
Earlier, Gary Balance’s Excellent half-century and his 78-run partnership for the 4th wicket with Miller helped Yorkshire set CSK a target of 141. Ballance and Miller, who replaced Phil Jaques, came together after Yorkshire had lost 3 wickets for 8 runs in 3 overs just after the Power Play. Ballance hit a boundary and 5 sixes in his 38-ball 58 before he was run out in the 1st ball of the final over of the innings.
Albie Morkel dismissed Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale and Joe Root, with Ben Hilfenhaus dismissing Adam Lyth in between to leave the County side stressed at 43 for 3 after eight overs.
Ballance and Miller then consolidate Yorkshire innings and kept the scoreboard ticking over, and both batsmen hit a six each in the 13th over bowled by Jadeja, with the former's slop sweep the pick of the 2, as importance started to set keen on the innings, which controlled a total of 61 dot deliveries. Ballance survived a caught behind appeal by Saha off Ashwin bowling in the 14th over, but replays clearly indicated that the ball had bounced on the pitch. Ashwin (0-25), who shared the new ball with Bollinger in this match, had an unsatisfactory tournament by his standards as his 3 wickets came at an average of 47.66 and economy rate of 9.53.
As Raina had promised at the toss, Dhoni was given a couple of overs - the 15th and 17th - and his 12 deliveries cost CSK 25 runs. Though Dhoni bowled 2 wides in the 15th over, he managed to get away with conceding only 7 runs. But, he was taken to task in the 17th over as Ballance hit 2 sixes and also scored all but one run in that over.
Bollinger ended the 4th wicket partnership between Miller (28) and Ballance when he had the former caught by Ashwin at cover; and also bowled an brilliant final over and conceded only 3 runs as Yorkshire ended their innings at 140 for 6, which in the end proved to be 20 runs too short. Morkel (2-12) and Bollinger (2-16) were the pick of the Super Kings bowlers.
