Super Kings a step closer to CLT20 semi-finals

Sudhir Gupta 11:25 28/09/2014
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  • Captain fantastic: Dhoni smashed 35 runs off 16 balls to help Chennai post a decent total.

    Chennai Super Kings took a big step towards booking a Champions League Twenty20 semi-final berth by registering a 13-run victory against Perth Scorchers in their last group match.

    All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja (44 not out off 28 balls) and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (35 off 16 balls) helped the former champions overcome a sluggish start and post a respectable 155-6 in 20 overs.

    Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (3-20) and fast bowler Ashish Nehra (2-27) then stifled Perth’s chase on a helpful Chinnaswamy Stadium pitch and restricted them to 142-7 in 20 overs.

    Ashwin also became the second Indian bowler after Amit Mishra to claim 150 wickets in T20 cricket. His current tally stands at 152 wickets from 146 matches. Unlike their last win at the same venue where the Chennai batsmen went haywire to record 242-6 in 20 overs, their highest in T20 cricket, the pitch behaved differently last night and assisted the bowlers.

    Dhoni admitted his batsmen failed to judge the pitch properly which caused problems for them initially. Chennai were in a spot of bother at 79-5 in the 15th over but Dhoni and Jadeja bailed them out by smashing 64 runs in five overs.

    Dhoni dealt only in sixes hitting four maximums while Jadeja struck four fours and two sixes. Dhoni also crossed the 4,000-run mark during the course of his knock and became the fifth Indian achieve that feat in T20 cricket, joining the ranks with Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli.

    Dhoni said: “We made mistakes. Our intent was good and we went with a positive attitude, but we needed to assess the pitch. We went too hard at the ball.”

    He believed Jadeja tilted the scales in Chennai’s favour by taking apart Brad Hogg. The chinaman bowler had the Chennai batsmen in a bind, conceding just 11 runs off his three overs and picking up Mithun Manhas’ (18) wicket. But Jadeja smacked him for a six and a four to collect 14 runs in his fourth over.

    “Jadeja’s hitting, the way he went after Hogg who was tough to hit, was very crucial. His innings changed the course of the match.

    “We improved today, but we lacked in the batting. We didn’t adapt to the wicket. The bowling performance was fantastic,” he added.

    Chennai can only be knocked out if Lahore Lions (six points from three matches) win their last match against Perth on Tuesday by a massive margin. Lahore would then have a better net run rate than Chennai and enter the last four. Perth were left ruing a lost opportunity after failing to upstage Chennai.

    The defeat has ended the semi-final hopes for the Big Bash champions as they have just four ponts and just one match in hand. Hogg believes the Big Bash champions have put up an improved display as compared to their tenthplaced finish in the last edition of the tournament. The veteran spinner conceded they had a big chance to turn the tables on Chennai.

    “We kept ourselves in the game but couldn’t go all the way. We wanted to come here and upset a few IPL teams. We showed that we have improved a lot from the last year and that is a great thing. We are moving forward.”

    Hogg was in a fix trying to analyse why the Perth batsmen failed against the Chennai spinners.

    “It’s probably more of a mental thing,” he said. “You see these guys in the nets and they are playing spin with relative ease.”

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