Sehwag cuts CSK down to size, KXIP will meet KKR in final

Mumbai: Mahendra Singh of Chennai Super Kings won the toss and elected to field first in a pitch which was tailor made for batting. Virender Sehwag and Manan Vohra have been instrumental in getting Kings Eleven Punjab off to brilliant start and it was no different in a big match like this where a loss would mean curtains for the team. Sehwag was in good nick all throughout the tournament but that one big score eluded him and what a stage to get it. Sehwag made mince meat of the Chennai attack but depositing them in the stands every now and then while Manan Vohra was giving him good support.

The opening partnership yielded 110 runs off 10 overs which had set up the match for Kings Eleven Punjab beautifully. Although Glen Maxwell did not quite come off with the bat, Punjab were still looking for a big score, courtesy Virender Sehwag. David Miller also came to the party by playing a brilliant cameo of 38 runs off 19 balls and Kings Eleven now threatened to bat Chennai out of the match. 

Sehwag’s brilliant knock at last came to an end but by then the damage has already been done. He made 122 off 58 balls with 12 fours and 8 massive hits over the fence. Sehwag was literally toying with the Chennai attack and was scoring them at will and the sheer audacity of that knock was good enough to bring down the morals of any team. The bowling card of Chennai did not look too good as the wickets came at an expensive price but the best out of the worst was probably Ishwar Pandey who took 1 for 35 in his 4 overs. Punjab had raced to 226 at the end of 20 overs which left Chennai with a mountain to climb.

Chennai Super Kings did not get off to a start they were hoping for as they Faf du Plussis early on in the innings which brought Suresh Raina at the crease. Raina meant business as soon as he came to the crease and took CSK off to a flying start which might also be an understatement considering they notched up 100 runs in just 6 overs. 

Dwayne Smith was knocked over by Sandeep Sharma while Raina was running riots at the other end. But the fairytale soon came to an end as Raina was run-out for 87 off 25 balls, thanks to Brendan McCullum who was just not himself in the match and ever since then it was downhill for the men in yellow. David Hussey came and gone while Ravindra Jadeja did everything that he could have to keep up to the run-rate but at the end it proved to be way too much for the two time champions.

Dhoni magic did not work either as by the time he came to the crease the match was well and truly over. Some of the Punjab bowlers were very expensive early on in the innings but they brought things under control once Raina was dismissed and went through their middle overs by conceding very few runs. Infact there came a stage in the match where Chennai failed to score a boundary for almost four overs or a little more than that.

Akshar Patel was by far the best bowler of the match by picking up a wicket and conceding just 23 runs off his 4 overs which was nothing less than brilliant considering the number of runs scored in the match. Chennai Super Kings at the end fell short by 24 runs as they could only manage 202 off their allotted 20 overs.