Chennai storms into semis!

HYDERABAD: The last evening match between Hyderabad and Chennai turned out to be a thriller. The result of this match favored the Chennai fans leaving the Hyderabad fans in dismay. Sailing on Raina’s unconquered 54, Chennai stormed to the semifinals of the inaugural T20 League. It was an authoritative seven-wicket victory at the Rajiv Gandhi international stadium, that cruised Chennai into the semis.

From the onset of the game Chennai established a tight grip over the match and rarely relinquished this control on the contest. Chennai bowling side was efficient enough in containing Hyderabad. Chennai did not allow Hyderabad to come forward with a tough target. Finally Chennai managed the win easily.

Suresh Raina was rightly adjudged as the man of the match. He hit five wonderful boundaries and big hits in his useful 54 runs spell. Earlier, Hyderabad team struggled to bat well. This time too Hyderabad was in no mood to come out of the debacles at the home ground. Openers Gilchrist and Gibbs came to the pitch with the hope of striking good shots. Soon the whole picture became clear when Gilly was out at 5 runs off Gony.

Balaji proved his worth again when he took the crucial wicket of Gibbs. Gibbs went back to pavilion without shinning at just 8 runs. The top wicket taker of world Muralitharan showed his magic with the ball which Styris failed to comprehend. Styris was looking good with his 20 runs but he was caught unawares as the ball by spinner hit the stumps.

Rao took the reins in his hand and crowds saw some good hits from his bat. He was in good form but due to poor running between the wickets he was run out at 46 in 47 balls. He hit two boundaries and one six. This way he fell short of his half century.
Teja played well with his 40 runs but soon he was out at a ball by Morkel. His knock included four blistering boundaries and one six. The Pakistani legend Afridi failed again here and made just 1 run. Balaji took his wicket. R.P.Singh made 10 runs and Ojha was not out at 1. In between Yadav had gone at duck. The whole team made just 147 runs in the 20 overs.

So Hyderabad set Chennai not too tall a target of 148. On Chennai’s side Fleming and Patel came as openers. Patel was out at 20 runs when his catch was taken by Afridi off Sarvesh. Hyderabad’s bowling resources were limited so Gilchrist chose to experiment, introducing Sarvesh Kumar into the attack. This change in bowling paid off, as Patel striked the ball directly into the waiting palms of Afridi at mid-off.

Fleming made 14 runs and was out off Vijay Kumar when the ball landed in Gilly’s gloves. With lose of these crucial wickets the Chennai side slowed down to 72 for two in 10 overs.

Later the other batsmen allowed the runs to come in singles or twos. Ojha and Styris’s tidy line provided Chennai some needed runs trickling in, mostly through singles. Dhoni himself contributed the crucial 37 runs before being out at ball of Ojha. Raina yielded 54 runs. Later Raina’s straight-driven six with four balls to spare, sealed victory and a semifinal berth for Chennai with a lot of comfort.

With this match the clouds have been cleared and teams for semis are in front of us. Still a lot more action is left on the cricket stage that will unveil in coming days!