Chennai Super Kings defeated the Pune Wariors by 13 runs in their second clash against each other in the Indian Premier league V at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
According to Mail Today, brilliant half centuries by Subramaniam Badrinath and Francois du Plessis and a disciplined bowling performance by the defending champions Chennai Super Kings saw them beat the Pune Warriors by 13 runs in their Indian Premier League Match in Chennai on Thursday. The report in Mail Today writes that Badrinath (57) and du Plessis (58) shared the highest opening stand (116 of 15.3 overs) in the IPL V to help Super Kings put up an challenging 164 for five on the board and then restricted Pune Warriors for 151 for seven at the M.A Chidambaram Stadium where the pitch became more difficult to bat on as match progressed.
The Indian Express writes that it was Mahendra Singh Dhoni who promoted himself to number four position made the difference as Chennai beat Pune. When Dhoni came on to bat it looked like Chennai was heading nowhere and were 116 for loss of two wickets after 16 overs raced off to 164 by the end of 20th over. And it was possible due to skipper himself who belted 28 runs of just 12 deliveries helped them to a daunting score. According to the report, it is the most valuable 28 runs that MS Dhoni has scored in this year’s tournament.
According to a report in Hindustan Times, Pune Warriors downfall started early on after they lost their openers Robin Uthappa and Jesse Ryder. It was then Manish Pandey and skipper Sourav Ganguly who started the damage control. But once Ganguly was caught while trying to hit Shadab Jakati, after his short enterprising innings, Chennai were in the driver’s seat. After this wicket, they were able to run through the Pune batting line up in a relaxed and confident manner.
Times of India writes that the target of 164 was pretty much achievable and so the task was up to the Chennai’s bowling and fielding department to rise to the occasion and they performed exactly the way it was expected. They fielded like demons took every catch that came their way and bowled a tight line at the death overs to notch up a 13 run victory.