Venue: Kingsmead, Durban
Pitch Report: The wicket continued to be dry in the second game as well but with the lights coming into play in the second half of the match, things could sway in favour of the team batting second.
The Chennai SuperKings thrashed the Jamie How-led Central Stag by bowling them out for a meagre 94 after setting a modest target of 152.
On a bouncy wicket that even had a bit of turn, Dhoni and his men made merry as they bundled out the Central Stag for a low total and started with a 57 run victory.
Inspite of restricting the Superkings to 152, the Central Stag never looked to be in the chase as their batting could not complement their bowling efforts and they fell rather cheaply.
Dhoni rotated his bowlers well as Albie Morkel and L.Balaji got early breakthroughs , reducing the Stags to 22-2 in 4 overs. The spin-duo of Muralitharan and R.Ashwin made further inroads and got rid of captain Jamie How, Brandon Diamanti, Mathew Sinclair and K.N.Barnett with the score at 45-6 from 11 overs. The Stags were staring at a huge defeat as they needed 107 runs from the remaining 9 overs with just 4 wickets in hand.
Doug Bracewell came in as the number 8 batsman and tried to get some runs on the board but did not have batsmen to support him at the other end. Eventually, he was dismissed in the 18th over after being the team's top scorer with 30 runs off 28 balls. L.Balaji and D.Bollinger then got rid of the last two batsmen and secured the team's first win in this competition. A comprehensive one that too.
Earlier, electing to bat first, the Superkings were rocked by the dismissal of Mathew Hayden in the very first over, with S.Raina following suit in the very next over leaving them at 5-2 in 2 overs. Murali Vijay couldn't last too long either as he also perished in the 9th over with the score at 40.
The Indian duo of S.Badrinath and S.Anirudha came to the centre and took charge of their teams batting and held a partnership of 73 runs in the next 8 overs. In the 17th over, Anirudha gave away his wicket after scoring a quickfire 42 off just 29 balls which had 5 fours and 1 brilliant inside-out shot for a six.
Towards the end there were more fireworks, as Albie Morkel did what he does rather too often, slogging. He scored 26 off just 15 deliveries with 2 massive sixes and 1 boundary and took his team's total to a respectable 152 which was enough for them to defend.
Turning Point : The batting display by the Central Stag. After a very good bowling performance to restrict the opposition to 152, their batting was a big let down. They seemed to struggle from the very first over and never looked like they could pull this match off.
The Hero : The Indian youngster, S.Badrinath for his
rescue acts by guiding his team out of the clutches of a low total, scoring a pivotial halfcentury.
Chennai will be high on confidence and Dhoni will be hoping his team will take this form into their next game as well. As for the Central Stag, they have a lot of homework to do before they hit the field again in this tournament. Their bowling has been bang on target but their batting seems to be a big concern. Lets just hope they come out stronger in their next match.
Scorecard :Chennai 151 for 4 (Badrinath 52*, Anirudha 42, Bracewell 2-28) beat Central Districts 94 (Bracewell 30, Balaji 3-20, Bollinger 2-10, Muralitharan 2-15, Ashwin 2-28) by 57 runs
Pictures Courtesy: Cricinfo
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