TheSportsCampus

< Prev		Next >

The Kings XI Punjab finally got that elusive win via a heart-stopping humdinger, as they managed to steal a win from the Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk. Chennai were cruising in a chase of a mere 137, but some brilliant bowling pegged them back to finish the 40 overs with the first tie of the season, before they were trounced in the Super Over.

Punjab were looking for their first win of the season as well as their first win ever against the Kings from down south. The changes in team composition were revealed at the toss, and stand-in skipper Suresh Raina had picked Manpreet Gony over Joginder Sharma for the third seamer's slot. For Punjab, the erratic S Sreesanth, who had been picked off for a stupendous 93 runs in 7 overs in the last two games, simply had to be benched, and that gave a chance to Juan ‘Rusty' Theron, a South African right-arm medium-pacer and a complete stranger to anyone in India, to represent the Kings, after barely stepping into the country a few hours prior to kick-off. Punjab further bolstered the bowling by picking Mumbai off-spinner Ramesh Powar over Adrian Barath, who had an unremarkable IPL debut last time, scoring 7 in the middle order. Suresh Raina won the toss and opted to field first on a wicket where he said he would be happy to chase 170-180 odd.

There was a change of personnel at the top of the order, with Irfan Pathan, who had almost taken the Kings XI across the finish line against the Deccan Chargers with his 60 off 29, joining the in-form Ravi Bopara. Manvinder Bisla, who had scored a quickfire 75 between 2 and 0, was shunted down to Pathan's regular position at No.7. Bopara struggled early on against Albie Morkel and finally hit out to third man after consuming 8 balls for 1 run. In fact, the bulk of the scoring inside the PowerPlay was done by Pathan, who looked in good nick, and incredibly, after 5 overs, 29 out of Punjab's 30 had come off the blade of Pathan!

Skipper Kumar Sangakkara finally got his act together with a couple of boundaries, but then the wily off-spinner who was the main weapon in his arsenal for Sri Lanka, was suddenly bowling for the opposite side. The foxy old Murali managed to befuddle his Sri Lanka skipper to have him dance down the track, and Parthiv with his glovework did the rest.

Meanwhile, Pathan continued on his merry way, with a six ever so reminiscent of Sourav Ganguly in his prime. He'd hit a similar one in the previous game, and today he repeated the feat by waltzing down the track to Ravichandran Ashwin and clearing the ropes through pure grace and timing. However, with his partners contributing little to the team total, he felt the need to go for the big ones, and failed to connect a slog to find Balaji hitting his stumps. Mahela Jayawardene followed in the next over leg before to Muralitharan as he picked up his second countryman for the day.

This brought together at the crease the old firm of Yuvraj and Mohammad Kaif, who have had contrasting fortunes after a promising beginning together for India, and watching them run together brought back memories of that immortal chase at Lord's way back in 2001. For the first time in IPL 3.0, Yuvraj looked in good touch, and was able to muscle two of his typical sixes over midwicket early in his innings to spark hopes of a special innings from the explosive batsman.

Suresh Raina, though, intelligently rotated his bowlers, and rolled his arm over himself to tie down the Punjabis who were looking to launch the final slog. Kaif holed out to the midwicket boundary to cap off a magnificent spell from Murali that read 3-16 in 4. New man in Bisla and Yuvraj himself got out off consecutive deliveries at the end of the 19th over from Morkel. A couple of boundaries from Piyush Chawla pushed the score to 136, but it was woefully short of what Punjab would have wanted at the outset.

Sangakkara, taking a leaf out of Shane Warne's book, opened the bowling with spin, entrusting the second over to Ramesh Powar. He overstepped the crease and with a free-hit coming, Haydos brought in the long-handled WMD, the Mongoose bat! He failed to hit it into the crowd, though, but continued his innings with the same bat. In Powar's next over, he did manage to clear the fence, with a shot that came off nowhere near the centre of the bat, and sailed over the back-pedalling Kaif only thanks to the deadly willow. That was followed immediately by a four that would have been no less than a four even if Matt had hit it with a stump in hand, and the chase was off to a solid start.

The diminutive Parthiv Patel then came into his element, with very Hayden-esque pulls for four and six. A six and a four later, Hayden was foxed by Powar in the flight and his stumps were pegged back. Hayden's dismissal brought Suresh Raina to the crease, and the young skipper gave Patel useful company as the score chugged along. Both southpaws smacked a six apiece to bring the equation down to 43 required from 48 balls, and it looked all too easy from there on.

That's when there was a twist in the tale. Rusty Theron first ran out Raina of his own bowling by running down the pitch and kicking the ball onto the stumps, and then struck Murali Vijay plumb in front to send him back for nought. Yuvarj then induced a nick from Badrinath in the next over and Sangakkara pouched it on the second attempt. A tight over each from the spinners Chawla and Powar brought down the equation to 25 from the final four, and Chennai took a much-needed time out.

Theron's 17th over gave away 5; 20 needed from 18. With Parthiv well set at the crease, it should still have been a canter for Chennai. First ball from Chawla, he swept behind square for a boundary. That's when, in a rush of blood, he jumped down the wicket to the next ball and was stumped gleefully by Sangakkara. With Kemp absent due to his side strain while bowling, Manpreet Gony walked out at No.7, and tried to slog when cool run-accumulation would have got them home. With 13 needed off 12, Rusty started with a wide, but bowled a nerveless six balls to concede just 2 more, and cleaned up Gony's stumps as well.

With 10 needed in the final over from Pathan, Morkel got a lucky edge through the vacant slip cordon off the first delivery to bring the equation down to 6 from 5. He failed to connect to the next ball, but Ashwin was halfway down the pitch by that time and Morkel came through as well. Two poor throws from Sangakkara and Pathan at either end meant they could scamper through for the second as well to get Morkel back on strike and the runs required were now 4 from 4. A single down to long-on was followed by a leading edge from Ashwin that would have been caught at a conventional cover. But since the cover fielder was well inside the circle to save a single, 2 runs resulted and the scores were level with 2 balls to go. More drama followed as the next ball was on a length but Ashwin couldn't connect. 1 was needed off the final delivery, and Ashwin hit it straight into the hands of Kaif at mid-off as Chennai failed to score that last run, resulting in the first tie of IPL 3!

A Super Over was to follow, and Chennai had nominated Morkel, Hayden and Raina as their 3 batsmen. Rusty, on debut, was to be given the thankless job of bowling the decisive over.

Morkel, well warmed up after his stint in the 20-over innings, took strike. Here's what transpired:

Ball 1: Top-edged to third man for a single. 1/0
Ball 2: Timber! Rusty gets past Hayden's mighty swing, Mongoose notwithstanding, and shatters the stumps. 1/1
Ball 3: Smashed to deep cover for a couple. 3/1
Ball 4: Raina goes high and handsome over midwicket for maximum! 9/1
Ball 5: Gone! Raina top-edges a skier to Mahela Jayawardene at cover who waits an eternity but makes no mistake. 9/2, and Chennai are all out.

For Punjab, the men to face the music were Jayawardene, Yuvraj and Pathan. Murali was to be the man to play the music. Surprisingly Mahela was to take strike.

Ball 1: Whack! Mahela launches his Sri Lankan compatriot over long-on for six! After Murali had taken his wicket in the 20-over innings, as also that of Sangakkara, Mahela gets some sweet revenge! 6/0
Ball 2: Same shot, but holes out to long-on, Murali gets back! 6/1
Ball 3: Yuvraj, who crossed when the ball was airborne on the previous delivery, misses a slog-sweep. 6/1, and 4 needed from 3.
Ball 4: It's all over, as Yuvraj pull out the reverse sweep and executes it brilliantly as the ball races away past the short third man to the boundary. The manic glint we see when he is at his best is back in his eye as he pumps his fists with a roar of exultation! 10/1

Thus, the Kings from the north finally got their act together to beat the Kings of the South and get their campaign back on track. Chennai, admittedly were without the services of Dhoni and Kemp, but in a chase of just 137, and when they had an opening stand of 65, they should never have needed them at all. Full marks to Juan Theron who rubbed the sleep out of his eyes to put in a Man-of-the-Match-winning performance. Rusty might have started an unknown in this game, but the Indian fans and particularly the Chennai ones know him very well now, with his miserly death bowling that gave him figures of 2/17 in 4 overs, and a nerveless Eliminator Over that cost just 9, thanks to the 2 wickets.

The Kings XI Punjab have finally broken the deadlock and registered their first win. The were not 100% convincing today either, as the batting failed to click, but the bowling somehow covered up. They have fellow basement dwellers Rajasthan up next, and another win will surely bring them straight back into contention. Chennai, meanwhile need to shake of the close defeat, and will certainly be hoping the captain Dhoni comes back from injury quickly as, not only is he a great captain and a fantastic batsman, but a talisman for whichever side he turns out for, and today they sorely missed that luck factor he brings to the table. They have a tough outing against an in-form Bangalore side next.

Mini Scorecard:

Kings Xi Punjab: 136/8 (20.0 overs)
Yuvraj Singh 43 (28 balls; 4x4; 2x6) Muttiah Muralitharan 4-0-16-3
Irfan Pathan 39 (32 balls; 5x4; 1x6) Albie Morkel 4-0-23-2

Chennai Super Kings: 136/7 (20.0 overs)
Parthiv Patel 57 (58 ablls; 4x4; 2x6) Juan Theron 4-0-17-2
Matthew Hayden 33 (24 balls; 4x4; 2x6) Yuvraj Singh 2-0-18-1

Also Read:

Match Preview - Mumbai Indians vs. Kolkata Knight Riders

File Photograph Copyright: Michael Henn

This article is the exclusive copyright of TheSportsCampus.com and permission to reproduce the same has not been granted