Chennai Super Kings beat Yorkshire by 4 wickets

2012 Champions League Twenty20 in South Africa

Group B, Chennai Super Kings Vs Yorkshire

Kingsmead, Durban,

South Africa

22 October, 2012

Badrinath's 47 off 38 balls and Dhoni's 31 off 23 balls helped Chennai Super Kings to beat Yorkshire by four wickets at Durbab on Monday.

Scorecard:

Yorkshire 140/6 in 20 overs

Gary Ballance 58

David Miller 28

Andrew Gale 23

Doug Bollinger 2-16

Albie Morkel 2-12

Target 141 runs from 20 overs

Chennai Super Kings 141/6 in 19 overs

Badrinath 47

MS Dhoni 31

Suresh Raina 31

Wardlaw 2-23

Steven Patterson 2-22

Hannon Dalby 2-23

CSK won by 4 wickets

Man of the Match - Badrinath

du Plessis and Hilfenhaus stars as Chennai Super Kings beat Mumbai Indians by 6 runs

Champions League Twenty20 2012 in South Africa

Group B, Chennai Super Kings Vs Mumbai Indians,

New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg,

South Africa.

Half century from Faf du Plessis and Hifenhaus take 2 for 14 helped Chennai Super Kings to beat Mumbai Indians by six runs in the Champions League T20 Group B Match on Saturday.

Scorecard:

Mumbai Indians won the toss and elected to field first

Chennai Super Kings 173/8 in 20 overs

Faf du Plessis      52

Murali Vijay        39

MS Dhoni          35

Lasith Maling      5-35

Target 174 runs from 20 overs

Mumbai Indians 167/7 in 20 overs

Dinesh Karthik      74

Rohit Sharma       32

Kieron Pollard      31

Ben Hilfenhaus     2-14

Albie Morkel        2-28

Chennai Super King won by 6 runs

Man of the Match - Ben Hilfenhaus

IPL 5: Punjab dismiss Chennai by 6 wickets to stay afloat

Returning after a long lay-off, Adam Gilchrist led from the front to take Kings XI Punjab to a comfortable six-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings at the HPCA Stadium on Thursday. Punjab’s eighth victory in 15 matches kept alive their hopes of making the IPL play-offs this season, while Chennai, having played all their matches and finished on 17 points, stay fourth in the standings but will now have to depend on other results going their way to make it through.

A hamstring injury had kept out Gilchrist for the most part of this tournament, but he showed no signs of rustiness in his unbeaten 64 as Punjab chased 121 with 21 balls to spare. Together with Mandeep Singh, the Australian got the hosts off to a brisk start, with fifty runs up in the seventh over itself. Though Mandeep was then bowled by Albie Morkel for 24 and Dwayne Bravo – the only Chennai batsman to make a substantial contribution earlier – got Nitin Saini and David Hussey out cheaply soon after, the total was too little to allow any pressure to build on Punjab.

The 40-year-old Gilchrist, meanwhile, rolled back the years and Yo Mahesh in particular suffered, going for 22 runs in the 15th over. He thrashed Mahesh for two sixes over square leg and two more fours – over fine leg and then over mid-off – and from then on, the game as a contest was over, Azhar Mahmood finishing things off with a boundary off Morkel to also improve his side’s run-rate somewhat.

Earlier, Punjab’s pacers repaid the faith put in them by Gilchrist, who sent in Chennai to bat on a green pitch in overcast conditions in Dharamsala. Praveen Kumar made full use of the swing on offer, and dismissed both openers – Murali Vijay (10) and Michael Hussey (7) – in consecutive overs, both edging simple catches behind to the wicketkeeper. He could have had a third one as well, but Piyush Chawla put down a simple catch at slip off Suresh Raina with Chennai struggling at 25 for 2 at the end of the Powerplay overs, and Kumar finished with still impressive figures of 2 for 18.

Briefly, it looked as if Punjab might have to pay a high price for the dropped catch, with Raina launching two sixes off Mahmood soon after. However, he was gone two deliveries later, Gilchrist taking another easy catch after Raina needlessly chased a wide delivery and only managed a thick outside edge. And when captain MS Dhoni was caught at third man by Saini off Parvinder Awana, Chennai were left in dire straits at 46 for 4 at the end of the 11th over.

Bravo, however, fought back with a gritty 43-ball 48, picking Chawla for 12 runs off his only over, and his 32-run partnership with Ravindra Jadeja (13) and then a 34-run partnership with Morkel (14) – the biggest of the innings – ensured Chennai reached a total that at least gave their bowlers something to defend. Although David Hussey was smashed for two consecutive sixes by Bravo and Mahmood gave away a four and a six to Morkel in the 18th, Awana (2 for 12) and Ryan Harris (1 for 24) did well to keep Chennai to 120 for 7, a total their batsmen eventually chased without much fuss.

IPL 5: Bravo's last-ball six pulls CSK through

Dwayne Bravo struck a six from the final delivery as the Chennai Super Kings kept alive their play-off hopes in the Indian Premier League with a tense five-wicket win over the Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Monday. The West Indian allrounder struck Rajat Bhatia over the long-on fence. Chasing a modest score of 159, openers got Chennai off to a flying start as Michael Hussey and Murali Vijay stitched 97-run opening stand.

Mystery spinner Sunil Narine then struck twice in the tenth over to end the Hussey-Vijay partnership. Narine double-strike helped Kolkata reduce Chennai to 97 for 2 in 9.4 overs. Soon a terrible mix-up saw Suresh Raina perish for eight. Faf du Plessis and MS Dhoni then got down to the task of guiding Chennai to victory. Dhoni (28 off 21) set up the match nicely, taking 18 runs from the penultimate over bowled by Marchant de Lange

But the captain fell off the second ball in the last over, with just three coming from the next four, before Bravo's last-ball maximum stunned the home crowd into silence.

Earlier, Chennai bowlers put on a inspired show to restrict Kolkata for 158 for 6. Put into bat, Gautam Gambhir struck an aggressive half-century but then watched his team falter thanks to some brilliant bowling by Chennai bowlers. Gambhir blasted 62 off just 43 deliveries and put on a 99 run opening partnership with Brendon McCullum (37 off 29).

From 99 for no loss in the 12th over, the KKR were reduced to 128 for 5 in the 18th over as Jacques Kallis (4), Manoj Tiwary (12) and Yusuf Pathan (11) failed to make any impact. McCullum was the first to go courtesy of a needless run out. Then in the very next over Shahdab Jakati got one to slip one through Gambhir's defence to have his stumps castled.

Kallis (4) fell attempting to reverse-sweep to Jakati, while Pathan started explosively for a huge six over long-on but his run of woeful form continued as he mistimed a delivery in the very next over as he fell to R Ashwin. Soon Tiwary was caught in the deep off the bowling of Ravindra Jadeja. The hosts were struggling at 128 for 5 at that stage.

In the end, late charge by Debabrata Das (19 not out off 10 balls) make sure that the hosts set a competitive target for the defending champions. Das hit a six and two fours in his late blast.

IPL 5: Chennai thrash table-toppers Delhi

Chennai Super Kings bowlers exposed the vulnerability of the Delhi Daredevils' top-order as the defending champions thrashed the current table toppers by nine wickets in an Indian Premier League match, here on Saturday. With this Chennai moved to fourth on the points table of the IPL.

Chasing 115-run target, Chennai Super Kings lost Michael Hussey (38) after he put on a 75-run opening stand with Murali Vijay. From there, Vijay and Suresh Raina guided the hosts to an easy victory and finished the match well within 16th over.

Irfan Pathan struck in the eleventh over to give Delhi a crucial breakthrough but it seem too little too late. Hussey hit a six and five boundaries in his quick 32-ball innings as he laid a solid platform for the hosts to win the match comfortably.

Earlier, Mahendra Singh Dhoni's decision to bowl first after winning the toss enjoyed great success as the Delhi were restricted to a modest total of 114 for 5. Ben Hifenhaus snaffled 3 for 27 and also received great support from Albie Morkel (1 for 15) and R Ashiwn (1 for 17) to put the skids on the home side.

Put into bat, Delhi lost Virender Sehwag (4), last match's centurion David Warner (8) and Naman Ojha (3) early thanks to brilliant bowling by Hilfenhaus. In another couple of deliveries, it was four down with Mahela Jayawardene (8) also back in the dug-out courtesy Albie Morkel. Delhi were tottering at 24 for 4 in just six overs.

Delhi Daredevils had to rebuild the innings from there, and Yogesh Nagar (43 not out) chalked up a crucial stand of 48 with Venugopal Rao (27). But the going was slow, and the Delhi side had to content themselves with adding only 42 more runs in their last seven overs. Venugopal did try his bit as he lofted Ravindra Jadeja for a straight six --- the first of the match in the ninth over. The duo mainly played in singles and doubles but boundaries were hard to come by.

However a brilliant piece of work by Albie at short cover saw the back of Venu and it slowed things down further. Irfan Pathan (13 not out) hung around with Nagar to help Delhi post 115 on board.

IPL 5: CSK beat RR to remain in playoffs hunt

With 43 runs needed to win from the final four overs, Albie Morkel and Anirudha Srikkanth played some sensational shots to pull the match from under the noses of Rajasthan Royals to earn Chennai Super Kings a much needed four-wicket win with 11 balls to spare.

Chasing 127-run target, Chennai lost wickets at regular intervals and looked in trouble as they were tottering at 84 for 6 at one stage. However, Anirudha and Albie changed the gear for the visitors and tore apart the Australian duo of Shane Watson and Shaun Tait to notch up the required runs in 18.1 overs. By virtue of this win, CSK moved up to the fourth position in the standings with 13 points from as many games, while Rajasthan have slipped to the sixth spot with 12 points from 13 games.

Chennai lost opener Vijay for nought in the very first over. Suresh Raina (23 off 17) played a cameo before he was caught by Ajinkya Rahane off Pankaj Singh. Once Raina departed, Rajasthan looked to claw back into the match with quick wickets. Needing 30 off the last three overs, Morkel and Anirudha scored identical six-ball 18 and stitched undefeated 43 runs for the seventh wicket to guide CSK to the vital win.

Earlier, a brilliant opening spell from Ben Hilfenhaus proved key as Chennai restricted the Rajasthan to 126 for 6. Hilfenhaus scalped two vital wickets of Rajasthan skipper Rahul Dravid and Shane Watson early during his breathtaking opening spell of four overs which yielded just eight runs.

Put into bat, Rajasthan's innings was halted by rain just one ball into the match. There were 55 minutes lost due to on-off drizzle. Once they did get going, only one delivery was possible, before the rain returned and once play resumed, Hilfenhaus struck to remove captain Dravid, miscuing a pull to Michael Hussey at mid-off.

Then Watson was brilliantly caught by a diving R Ashwin at the third-man boundary as the batsman went for a huge heave over square-leg only to get a leading edge. Ajinkya Rahane, dropped on 14 by Suresh Raina atfirst slip, lost his patience after facing 22 deliveries and top-edged Mahesh to Ashwin at mid-on for 17. Rajasthan slipped to 43 for 3 in the ninth over.

Stuart Binny, however, tried to force a comeback with a fierce counter-attack and thrashed Dwayne Bravo for two boundaries and a six to pick up 18 runs off his opening over. But Binny (27) then fell when he pulled Mahesh to Raina at short midwicket, before Johan Botha (12) and Hodge combined for a 32-run fifth-wicket stand. For Rajasthan, Hilfenhaus and Yo Mahesh bagged two wickets each.

IPL 5: Chennai Super Kings climb after win over Deccan Chargers

Chennai: Cameron White’s 53-ball 77 went in vain as Deccan Chargers slumped to a ten-run defeat, their seventh in ten matches, against Chennai Super Kings in an Indian Premier League match here on Friday.

White, with his nine fours and two sixes, led Deccan’s chase of Chennai’s 160. But his effort proved insufficient at the end as the visitors could only manage 150 for 5 in their 20 overs. White was supported well by Shikhar Dhawan, who contributed with 36 before being unfortunately rut-out at the non-strikers’ end. 

After an early dismissal of Parthiv Patel (1), who was bowled by Albie Morkel, both White and Dhawan strung 68 runs for the second wicket. But with 29 to get in the last two overs, White was run out when he attempted to challenge the left arm of Ravindra Jadeja, whose strong throw from deep cover found the batsman short of his crease. Daniel Christian’s unbeaten 24 off 27 couldn’t take Deccan past the finish line. For Chennai, Ben Hilfenhaus, who made his IPL debut, Morkel and Suresh Raina all picked up one wicket each.

With their fifth win in ten matches, Chennai climbed from fifth to fourth in the points table, while Deccan maintained their wooden spooners’ tag.

Earlier, Faf du Plessis once again provided Chennai a flying start. The South African batsman, who has already scored 376 runs in this edition of the IPL so far, smacked two fours and a six over wide long-on during his innings of 42. Murali Vijay, who returned to Chennai’s playing XI in place of Wriddhiman Saha, hit a couple of boundaries but was dismissed when his attempted lofted shot off Veer Pratap Singh found Amit Mishra at third-man. Raina, in his 24-ball 32, once again displayed his array of strokes. He struck two maximums and two fours before finding Abhishek Jhunjhunwala at long-on off Mishra. But the 64-run stand he shared with du Plessis gave the much-needed spark to the CSK innings.

MS Dhoni, who promoted himself up in the batting order, played a rather subdued innings, scoring 34 off 28 balls. But his small but useful partnerships with du Plessis, Jadeja (4) and Morkel (13) ensured that Chennai finished with a competitive score. For Deccan, Singh picked up two wickets in his three overs, though he gave away 35 runs in the bargain. Christian, Jhunjhunwala, Mishra and Ashish Reddy all chipped in with a wicket each.

MI beat defending champions CSK in IPL opener

Chennai: An allround display by Mumbai Indians (MI) saw them post a comprehensive eight-wicket win over the defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the opening match of Indian Premier League's (IPL) season five here at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Wednesday.

Chasing a modest 113 to win, Mumbai achieved the target with 3.1 overs to spare, riding on Richard Levi's fifty on IPL debut and his 69-run opening stand with Sachin Tendulkar, who retired hurt with a hand injury after scoring 16. Doug Bollinger and Dwayne Bravo were the two wicket-takers for Chennai.

Levi and Rohit Sharma (0) fell in quick succession to give Chennai some hope in the middle. However, Ambati Rayudu (18 not out) and James Franklin (25 not out) made sure there were no major hiccups towards the end of Mumbai's chase.

CSK – who were unbeaten at home in the last season – were never in the game after Mumbai reduced them to 85 for 5 following skipper Harbhajan Singh's decision to bowl first. Despite a 26-ball 36 by Suresh Raina, Chennai could never recover and were eventually bowled out for a meagre 112 in 19.5 overs. Lasith Malinga, Pragyan Ojha and the West Indian allrounder Kieron Pollard finished with two wickets apiece.

Dominant Chennai Seal Title

Johannesburg: Murali Vijay and Mike Hussey cracked a sparkling half-century each as Chennai Super Kings were crowned the Champions League Twenty20 winners with their eight-wicket victory over Warriors in the grand finale.

Vijay (58 off 53 balls), who was let off when on 34, cracked his third half-century of the tournament while the other opener Hussey played sheet anchor and remained not out on 51 as Chennai chased down the small target of 129 with one over to spare.

Spinners Muttiah Muralitharan (3/16) and Ravichandran Ashwin (2/16) shared five wickets as Chennai restricted Warriors to 128 for seven after the South African champion side elected to bat at the New Wanderers Stadium. Vijay underlined his emergence as a fine Twenty20 batsman by becoming the highest run getter of the tournament with 294 runs from six matches, eight more than Warriors captain Davy Jacobs.

Vijay's 53-ball innings was studded with six fours and two sixes while Hussey hit only three fours from 46 balls in his unbeaten knock. CSK were richer by $2.5 millions for winning the second edition of the tournament, their second crown in five months after their IPL triumph in April.

Warriors received $1.3 million for finishing runners-up of the grand finale of the multi-dollar tournament, however, turned out to be a lopsided match with the Warriors bowlers failing to make any impact on the batsmen of the opposition who have beaten them in their last Group A league fixture four days ago.

The total of 128 was too small to defend and Chennai was always in control of the run chase though it got a bit tight with Suresh Raina, who was mainly responsible for CSK's semi-final win against Royal Challengers Bangalore with an aggressive 94, out cheaply for just two.

Hussey and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (17 not out), however, held on their nerves to pull off the win with a 25-run partnership for the unbroken third wicket. Dhoni hit the winning runs - a four off Juan Theron - as Chennai scored 132 for two in 19 overs to lift the title.

Vijay and Hussey did not need to take too much risk as they ran mostly in singles in their 103-run opening wicket stand in front of a capacity crowd. Vijay lived dangerously on a couple of occasions with an edge from his bat flying past wicketkepeer Mark Boucher and Justin Kreusch for a four.

He was also lucky to survive in the ninth over with wicketkeeper Mark Boucher missing a simple stumping chance off the bowling of Nicky Boje when on 34. But he made amends of these lapses later as he struck some fine shots, including two sixes off Nicky Boje.

Vijay fell to Boje in the 15th over after taking his side to the threshold of victory.

MS Dhoni: It is the last time we are playing as a unit. This is a real emotional moment, we may lose some players in the auctions and it's good to win this. We were fortunate to have some fabulous foreign players, Fleming was superb as a coach, Hayden and Hussey were constantly helping the youngsters. We did play well in the knock out stages. The Warriors were off to a great start today but the line that Ashwin bowled helped us. Balaji was brilliant throughout the series. Murali has been fantastic as well, we have been banking on our spinners and they have lived up to their expectations every single time. I would also like to thank the crowd for their support.

MS Dhoni and his team gets a cheque of 2,500,000 US$

Davey Jacobs: We are disappointed about today, they were better than us and Chennai deserved this win. We got off to a good start but Ashwin and Murali were fantastic. We lost the momentum in the middle overs. It was good to make it to the finals but credit to the boys for playing well and helping the team enter the final.

Vijay wins the golden bat for becoming the highest run scorer in the competition.

Ashwin wins the Golden wickets for being the highest wicket taker in the competition.

Ravichandran Ashwin: This has been special for me, could not have had a better finish with CSK winning the competition. There was some spongy bounce on the wicket and we made full use of it. After Jacobs fell, we bowled really well. I have gained a lot of experience playing with Muralitharan. All's well that ends well, I have put the super-over blemish behind and the game after that was perhaps the best I have played so far. When you are bowling with someone like Murali, the opposition would like to take you on and that worked in my favour.

Ravichandran Ashwin is the Man of the Series for taking 13 wickets in the competition.

Murali Vijay: After we restricted them to a low total, Dhoni said that it is a dicey score and we were asked to bat well. Myself and Hussey decided to play our natural game. The ball was not coming onto the bat nicely, we took our time to settle down. I would like to thank the crowd for their support, I would also like to thank my coach back home. He has always been supportive.

Murali Vijay is the Man of the Match for scoring 58 runs off 53 balls.

Now the Chennai team are in a huddle. It looks like Anirudha is belting out some kind of an anthem in Tamil and all the other guys are chipping in. Not sure about the foreign guys though, I see even Hayden, Albie and Kemp singing along, so guessing that they might know a few lines as well. It is their final game as a team - the auctions take place in November for the next edition of the IPL. It is a double for this CSK side, they have won the IPL and now the CL in the same year. A fabulous achievement and richly deserved too.

The Super Kings are now the Emperors of the T20 world. Nothing went wrong for Chennai as Hussey and Vijay got the team off to a fantastic start with a superb 103 run opening stand. It was a golden night for Vijay as he stroked a half century and he also became the proud owner of the Golden Bat for the most number of runs scored in this tournament. Hussey also went past his fifty as Chennai reached home by eight wickets and are now proud champions of this Champions League T20. Stay tuned for the presentation.

As soon as the winning shot was hit by Dhoni, all the Chennai players came rushing on to the ground. They are celebrating in their own way. Nice little scene out there when Dhoni had a word with Rudi Koertzen for his services to the game. Remember that this is Rudi's last game as an umpire.

More Match Gallery

Dhoni's Chennai seek victory for one last time

It's tempting to bill the final as the clash of captains: Davy Jacobs v MS Dhoni. It makes sense too. Jacobs is an interesting character. He's extremely driven and has always wanted captaincy. He thinks it's his destiny to lead this Warriors side. They hadn't won a thing for 18 years until he came along. It's his team. It's his passion, his life. And he is a fiercely ambitious young man.

Jacobs hasn't played a game for South Africa yet but, when asked what his plans are, he said he would like to be the vice-captain to Johan Botha in the Twenty20 international team. And there was no trace of arrogance. He said it as though it was a given and, in his mind, it is. A couple of days ago South Africa's Test, ODI and Twenty20 sides were selected for the home series against Zimbabwe and the tour of the UAE. Jacobs wasn't in them. Rest assured, he won't stop busting his gut till he gets in. He's that kind of a man.

Tonight, after the successful semi-final, he said: "The team that wants it more will win tomorrow." This is where this gets complicated.

If this was just another final, it would not be far-fetched to say that Jacobs desires victory more than Dhoni does. But it's not just another final. It's the last time that this group of players will play together for Chennai and Dhoni has said he wants a perfect farewell. "Emotionally we are quite attached but unfortunately we won't be able to retain the same team. We want to do well as this is the last tournament. The way we have gelled in the last three years [is great]."

Dhoni's leadership has its share of admirers. He tries to ensure that he appears calm in the middle, he knows his teams' weaknesses, he definitely knows its strengths and, like most successful captains, he gets his share of luck.

It will perhaps come down to the pitch then. Jacobs said the Wanderers track will offer pace and bounce and he expects Makhaya Ntini to fire on the big day. But things even out. Dhoni has Doug Bollinger and Albie Morkel, who returned from injury and produced a excellent spell against Royal Challengers Bangalore. The edge in the seam attack will be with Chennai if Morkel can reprise that semi-final performance. He has often failed to be consistent in the Twenty20 format. Chennai's spin attack comprises Muttiah Muralitharan and R Ashwin, Warriors have Nicky Boje and Johan Botha. Advantage Chennai?

And so we come to the batting. Chennai didn't have to face the pace of Dale Steyn in the last game and ended up with a massive total. Can Ntini and co strike fear in their camp? But Chennai do bat deep, at least deeper than Warriors. It's difficult to pick a winner. 

Team news

Both teams don't have any injury problems and are likely to go with unchanged sides.

Chennai(probable): 1 M Vijay, 2 Michael Hussey, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 S Badrinath, 5 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 6 S Anirudha, 7 Albie Morkel, 8 Doug Bollinger, 9 R Ashwin, 10 Muttiah Muralitharan, 11 L Balaji

Warriors (probable): 1 Davy Jacobs (capt), 2 Ashwell Prince, 3 Colin Ingram, 4 Justin Kreusch, 5 Mark Boucher (wk), 6 Craig Thyssen, 7 Johan Botha, 8 Nicky Boje, 9 Rusty Theron, 10 Makhaya Ntini, 11 Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

Watch out for ...

Ashwell Prince has been almost anonymous but he can be the guy who turns it on for Warriors in the final. He is the man who walked up his coach last year and said he wanted to open. He starred in the final of both the Pro20 and Pro-40 tournaments. While the attention will be on the explosive Jacobs, it might be Prince who performs the jailbreak against Chennai. His coach Russell Domingo says he has not seen a more determined cricketer than Prince. "He is calm and brings so much stability to this youthful team." 

Albie Morkel can make or break the game tomorrow. He bowled fast spell in the last game during which he troubled Bangalore with seam movement and bounce. But Morkel's game can also disintegrate quickly. He is far from consistent and his contest with the Warriors' openers could decide the game.