All round show from the Chennai outfit virtually puts them close to semifinal
Chennai Super Kings captain M.S. Dhoni plays a shot during their Oppo Champions League Twenty20 match against Perth Scorchers at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday. CSK won by 13 runs. (Photo: R. Samuel)
Bengaluru: The Chennai Super Kings overcame a late charge by Perth Scorchers to win their Oppo Champions League Twenty20 match by 13 runs here on Saturday. Off-spinner R. Ashwin led with three wickets as the Super Kings survived a quickfire 30 off 21 balls by Nathan Coulter-Nile. Earlier, the predicted and unwelcome rains failed to make an appearance at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here as, for the first 16 overs, Chennai in their must-win contest against Perth Scorchers looked like they were enveloped in gloom.
In the second match of Saturday’s double header, Ravindra Jadeja (44, 28b, 4x4, 2x6) and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (35, 16b, 4x6) pulled the former champions out of deep water to reach a reasonable 155 for 6. Unlike the regular green-coated pitch here, the teams were greeted by a clean strip and the Scorchers came well prepared for it, with the right mix of pace and spin.
Both the team teams tinkered with their line-up with the Scorchers adding spin power in the former of Michael Beer, while Chennai rested an unwell Faf du Plessis and brought in John Hasting. Mithun Manhas took Ishwar Pandey’s slot. With ample moisture in the air, the team from Down Under went one-up, winning the toss and putting Dhoni and his men to bat.
Scorchers began in the right fashion, with the bowlers giving nothing away and the disciplined fielders ensuring the batsman don’t swing their bat around. Opener Brendon Mc Cullum paid with his wicket in the third over as Joel Paris has his stumps uprooted.
What followed was pandemonium, as the Chennai batsman tried to swing their bat aimlessly at just about anything and made a hasty return to the dugout. In-form Suresh Raina was run out by Nathan Coulter Nile, courtesy a miscommunication with a woefully out-of-sorts Dwayne Smith. The Caribbean star did precious little and trudged back a couple of overs later, after mindlessly swinging his bat at a slow delivery from spinner Yasir Arafat, only to be clean bowled.
Precariously placed at 79 for 5 in the 15th over, with a run rate which was riding south, Dhoni and Jadeja upped the tempo with their 31-ball 64 run partnership for the sixth wicket.
Scorecard
Chennai Super Kings: D. Smith b Arafat 11, B. McCullum b Paris 11, S. Raina (run out) 1, M. Manhas c Paris b Hogg 18, D. Bravo b Turner 27, R. Jadeja (not out) 44, M.S. Dhoni c Turner b Coulter-Nile 35, J. Hastings (not out) 0. Extras (lb3, w4, nb1) 8. Total (for six wickets in 20 overs) 155.
FoW: 1-15, 2-16, 3-33, 4-56, 5-79, 6-143.
Bowling: Paris 2-0-13-1, Coulter-Nile 4-0-28-1, Beer 4-0-16-0, Arafat 4-0-51-1, Hogg 4-0-25-1, Turner 2-0-19-1.
Perth Scorchers: C. Simmons c Dhoni b Nehra 13, A. Voges lbw b Nehra 27, A. Agar b Ashwin 4, M. Marsh c Jadeja b Ashwin 19, S. Whiteman lbw b Ashwin 5, A. Turner run out (Dhoni) 22, N. Coulter-Nile c Bravo b Sharma 30, Yasir Arafat (not out) 12, J. Paris (not out) 5. Extras (lb2, w2, nb1) 5. Total (for seven wickets in 20 overs) 142.
Fow: 1-18, 2-26, 3-53, 4-68, 5-73, 6-123, 7-131.
Bowling: A. Nehra 4-0-27-2, R. Ashwin 4-0-20-3, M. Sharma 3-0-17-1, R. Jadeja 4-0-26-0, J. Hastings 2-0-16-0, D. Bravo 3-0-34-0.
MoM: Ravindra Jadeja
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