Albie Morkel took 3 wickets while Ravichandran Ashwin and Doug Bollinger scalped 2 each as Chennai Super Kings beat Pune Warriors by 25 runs in their IPL match at MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai on Monday. Chasing a low victory target of 143 runs, Pune could manage 117/9. Yuvraj Singh hit 2 fours in his 43-ball 34 before Shadab Jakati took a superb diving catch in the covers to dismiss the Pune captain off Albie Morkel.Doug Bollinger had Mithun Manhas caught behind by MS Dhoni as Pune Warriors lost their fifth wicket. Manhas (20) added 38 runs for the fifth wicket with his captain Yuvraj Singh before falling to Bollinger.
Morkel scalped Mohnish Mishra and Manish Pandey while Ravichandran Ashwin dismissed Jesse Ryder and Robin Uthappa to place Pune at 40/4 in 6 overs. Mishra edged a Morkel delivery onto his stumps as Pune lost their first wicket in the third over. In the next over, Ryder hit Ashwin for a straight six but the off-spinner had his revenge when he clean bowled the Kiwi on the very next ball. In the next over, Pandey hit two consecutive fours off Morkel before edging a delivery onto his stumps.
Ashwin then struck again in the next over when he clean bowled Uthappa from behind his legs to reduce Pune to 40/4. Earlier, Jerome Taylor took three wickets and Alfonso Thomas took two, as Pune Warriors restricted Super Kings to 142/6. Michael Hussey top scored for Chennai with a 48-ball 61 that was studded with a six and 6 fours. Manish Pandey took a good catch at long-on to dismiss Hussey off Jerome Taylor, who two balls later had Albie Morkel caught by Jesse Ryder.
Rahul Sharma had MS Dhoni stumped by Robin Uthappa after captain hit a six and 2 fours in his 21-ball 26. Alfonso Thomas dismissed Murali Vijay and Suresh Raina in one over to place Chennai at 66/2 in 10 overs. Vijay hit a 29-ball 31 before Thomas had him caught by Nathan McCullum at mid-wicket and four balls later clean bowled Raina. The twin breakthrough came after Vijay and Michael Hussey brought up Super Kings’ 50 in the eighth over. Earlier, Pune captain Yuvraj Singh won the toss and chose to bowl.
Pune have replaced Wayne Parnell with Nathan McCullum. Also comes in Manish Pandey, after serving his four-match ban. Chennai have brought in Shadab Jakati for Joginder Sharma. Both teams had started their campaign on a positive note by winning a couple of matches in the beginning, but it’s very difficult to continue the winning streak in a fiercely fought tournament like IPL. And both teams have lost more than a game since then and need a victory to get their campaign back on track.
BRIEF SCORES: Chennai Super Kings 142 for 6 (Hussey 61, Taylor 3-30) beat Pune Warriors (Yuvraj Singh 34, Morkel 3-29)
