After facing defeat in their IPL opener, Chennai Super Kings bounced back in style as they beat Royal Challengers by 92 runs in their IPL T20 match at Port Elizabeth.
Electing to bat first, Chennai Super Kings made 179 at the loss of 5 wickets with the help of quickfire knock of 65 runs from the blade of Matthew Hayden. In reply, Bangalore were bundled for just 87 runs in 15.2 overs with Dravid falling as the last man for 20 runs.
Defending the total, Chennai Super Kings bowler MS Dhoni struck in the first over to dismiss Royal Challengers opener Praveen Kumar for a duck. A slower delivery that followed two bouncers, had the leg-stump uprooted.
Jacques Kallis did some repairing work but his outing did not last long and he fell prey to his compatriot Albie Morkel for 24 runs. He caught him plumb with a delivery that was straight and full.
Ross Taylor, who was struggling to break free, threw away his wicket in frustration as a he lofted a ball from 'Freddie' Flintoff and the all-rounder caught him off his own bowling for just 1 run.
Muttiah Muralitharn struck twice in his same over to get rid of the Bangalore skipper Kevin Pietersen and Robin Uthappa. While he trapped KP in line for a naught, Uthappa was foxed by a beauty and was stumped by keeper Dhoni for 20 runs.
Virat Kohli was looking good when Dhoni's safe bet Joginder Sharma struck to send him back for 11 runs. He was caught by S Badrinath. Two balls later, Murali claimed Rajesh Bishnoi with his 'doosra' as his third victim. A flighted delivery had the debutant play it. He went for the shot but could not execute it properly and was taken by L Balaji at long-on.
Balaji soon rewarded himself with the wicket of Vinay Kumar, with the luck surely swung in his favour. Vinay wasted a fulltoss from Balaji as he chipped it directly to Hayden at midwicket. Balaji also had Dravid as the last Bangalore wicket. Dravid was looking to clear the square leg fence but found Flintoff in the deep.
Muralitharan, who dug the grave for Challengers, claimed Dale Steyn as his fourth wicket and walked away with the 'Man of the Match' trophy.
Earlier, the Chennai openers Hayden and Parthiv Patel gave a flying start to their side and added 106 runs for the first wicket with Patel contributing 30 runs. The duo looked to continue the slaughter, but soon after the strategy break after 10 overs captain Kevin Pietersen introduced himself to break the deadly partnership.
KP bowled a fuller and straighter delivery that crashed into the stumps as Patel failed to get behind the line of the ball. The petite batsman from Gujarat struck two fours and a six.
Hayden went the next delivery as he fell short of his crease while responding to Suresh Raina's call. Dravid collected the ball quickly and uprooted the stumps with a good throw.
The former Australian giant slammed a 22-ball fifty, which was his third of the IPL tournament with the help of nine boundaries and two sixes.
Chennai skipper MS Dhoni then joined Raina in the middle and added 38 runs for the third wicket. He was on 16 runs when a leg-cutter from Praveen Kumar did him in. He failed to connect it correctly as the ball took a thick edge of his bat and R Bishnoi took a simple catch at long-off.
Raina fell as Praveen's second victim as he lofted a slower delivery from his UP teammate and was taken successfully by Kohli at long-on for 28 runs.
Albie Morkel, the fifth Chennai batsman, fell to his compatriot Dale Steyn for just 5 runs off the last ball. Morkel tried to make a room to play a quick and fuller delivery from Steyn was his reaction was slower than the ball as his bat hit ground after the ball crashed into the stumps. Flintoff remained unbeaten on 22 runs.
[the article was originaly published at http://cricket.ndtv.com/cricket/ndtvcricket/storypage/ndtv/id/spoen20090091315/story.html]
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