IPL 2014 Sehwag 58-ball 122 from earlier in the day looks like an everyday sort of innings. Suresh Raina seemed to be batting in a trance that was slowing down time, and slowing down cricket-ball action film.Chennai Super Kings were 100 for 2 after six over’s. It was the highest Power play score in Twenty20 cricket. Suresh Raina was brilliant on 87 off 25 balls.
With Chennai Super Kings' bowlers feeding him a juicy, back-of-a-length diet interspersed with full-tosses (they bowled 17 in all), Sehwag raced along at a strike rate of over 200, outshining all of his teammates in the process. Manan Vohra only scored 34 out of an opening stand of 110, Glenn Maxwell 13 out of a second-wicket stand of 38 and David Miller 31 out of a third-wicket partnership of 63.
When du Plessis took a difficult diving effort at extra cover to send back Sehwag Kings XI were 211 for 3 with 11 balls to go. It was the third time in three matches this season that they had crossed 200 against Super Kings. For the third time, their batting firepower set them up for a comfortable victory. For six unreal over’s, though, their total looked glaringly inadequate.
The direct hit caught Raina well short Run-out could end Suresh Raina innings from George Bailey. Having brought on Karanveer Singh, the leg spinner, and having brought the field in to deny Brendon McCullum the easy single, Bailey himself was called on to capitalize on the batsman's over-eagerness to bring Raina back on strike. Bailey sprinted hard to his left, picked up the ball, transferred it to his throwing hand, and released a hard, flat throw, all this on the turn.
The direct hit caught Raina well short. The throw broke the wicket, and broke the spell that Raina had cast over the game. Having scored 100 in the first six overs, Super Kings could only manage 102 off the last 14, and even a customary last-ball six from MS Dhoni.
He had reached his fifty in 16 balls, and become the second-quickest to the mark in the IPL, That happened in the sixth over, in which the unfortunate Parvinder Awana - went for 33, in a sequence that read 6, 6, 4, 4, 4 (no ball), 4, 4.
They also made a couple of tactical decisions that were, in retrospection, questionable: Ravindra Jadeja and David Hussey walked in ahead of Dhoni, who finally came in with 87 required from 47 balls, with too little firepower left in the dugout. The task proved well beyond an out-of-sorts Dhoni in the end.
The evening had been lit up by Sehwag second IPL century. Coming towards the close of a season in which he has steadily gathered form, the Sehwag who burst upon the Wankhede came extremely close to resembling the Sehwag of his peak years, hardhearted on the smallest amount of width, sneering against the spinners, and equally capable of stinging power and cheeky placement.
Score Details
Kings XI -226/6(20)
Chennai Super Kings-202/7(20)
Player of the match
Virender Sehwag
