Virender Sehwag underlined his credentials as a big match player with a super 122 off 58 balls to pave Kings XI Punjab’s way into the Indian Premier League final.
Punjab rattled 220-6 in 20 overs and though Chennai Super Kings made a bold bid to overhaul it, they fell short by 24 runs. The winners will now clash with Kolkata Knight Riders in the final tomorrow.
It was the third meeting between the Kings this season and Punjab have reigned supreme on all occasions notching scores of 206, 231 and now 226.
Though Sehwag had Chennai down on their knees on a batting beauty at the Wankhede Stadium last night, there was more drama to follow.
Chennai began the chase in a disastrous fashion losing opener Faf du Plessis off the second ball of the innings but in walked Suresh Raina and turned in one of the most stirring knocks the IPL has ever seen.
The left-handed batsman bludgeoned 87 runs off 25 balls smashing 12 fours and six sixes as Chennai raced to 100 in just 6 overs – the highest powerplay score in Twenty20 cricket.
But Raina was run out after the powerplay and with that Chennai’s hopes nosedived. Brendon McCullum called for a run but George Bailey found Raina short of crease with his direct hit. Chennai lost their way and failed to get a grip on the match.
It left captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni with an unenvious task of scoring 84 runs from 42 balls. Dhoni has been an incredible finisher for his side but yesterday his unbeaten 42 was not enough as Chennai had to settle for 202-8 in 20 overs.
In a rare outburst, Dhoni then lashed out at the foreign players for failing to step up. Faf du Plessis (0), Dwayne Smith (7 off 11 balls), Brendon McCullum (11 off 16 balls) and David Hussey (1) contributed just 19 runs and consumed 32 balls.
Dhoni said: “The target was achievable when Raina was going. I think in the middle overs there was some very irresponsible cricket from some of the most experienced international cricketers. When the stakes are high you can’t commit mistakes.”
Dhoni also had a go at his spinners Ravichandran Ashwin (1-44) and Ravindra Jadeja (0-48) for failing to contain Sehwag.
“We need our spinners to improve their bowling on flat tracks. Once Viru gets going there is hardly any bowler who can stop him and in our bowling there is no bowler who can push him on the back foot,” he said.
Sehwag entertained the Wankhede crowd with eight sixes and 12 fours. He became only the second batsman this season to score a century after Mumbai Indians’ Lendl Simmons, who had scored an unbeaten 100, incidentally against Punjab.
It was also Sehwag’s second IPL hundred, his first coming in 2011 for Delhi Daredevils against Deccan Chargers. Sehwag put on 110 runs for the first wicket in 10.4 overs with Manan Vohra (34 off 31 balls) and raised 63 runs for the third wicket in 5.1 overs with David Miller (38 off 19 balls).
Sehwag’s efforts meant it would need an extraordinary effort from Chennai to overhaul the target, especially since no team had won chasing 227 runs in Twenty20 cricket.
Raina stepped up to play an exceptional innings and began by tearing into swing bowler Sandeep Sharma in the second over, shredding him for three fours and a six.
Three fours and three sixes – the pick of them a pull over deep backward square leg off Mitchell Johnson – followed in the next three overs, taking Raina to 55 off 18.
He had reached his fifty in 16 balls, and become the secondquickest to the mark in the IPL, but he hadn’t even slipped into top gear. That happened in the sixth over, in which the unfortunate Awana went for 33, in a sequence that read 6, 6, 4, 4, 4 (no ball), 4, 4. But once Raina was dismissed Punjab were back in the game.
