Dhoni, Raina and Mohit Sharma star in Chennai Super Kings' win over Pune Warriors

It was a perfect revenge for Chennai Super Kings as they beat Pune Warriors by 37 runs, says a report in Mumbai Mirror, adding that this was Pune's fifth loss in a row and eighth in the tournament. The last victory for the Pune team was against the same opponents whom they had beaten by 24 runs in Chennai a couple of weeks ago.


“The wrecker-in-chief for Chennai was rookie Mohit Sharma, who scalped Aaron Finch, T Suman and Yuvraj Singh giving away only 21 runs in his quota of four overs. Three of the Pune batsman were run out and those wickets took Chennai closer to victory. Steven Smith was the top-scorer for Pune with 35 but his contribution mattered little as the hosts finished at 127 for nine, in reply to Chennai's 164 for three,” adds the report.


According to a report in The Times Of India, Suresh Raina underlined his tremendous utility as a T20 batsman, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni showed his amazing shot-making ability in the slog overs, and S Badrinath got out at the perfect time.


“Dhoni (45, 16 balls, 4x4s, 3x6s) and Raina (63, 50 balls, 5x4s, 1x6) added 61 runs in just 27 balls for the fourth wicket as table-toppers Chennai Super Kings swelled their total from 52-2 in the 10th over to 164-3 against bottom-placed Pune Warriors at the Subrata Roy Sahara stadium on Tuesday night. They, then, defended the total with zeal to win the game by 37 runs as the hosts finished at a disappointing 127 for nine,” says the report, adding that with this success, Chennai has inched even closer to a playoff berth. One more win, and they can be assured of a slot.

“Chennai again displayed supreme confidence and never showed desperation despite a slowish run-rate for the large part of their innings on a tricky wicket. They also kept it simple by winning the toss and batting first.”


Meanwhile The Hindu writes that Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s power-packed knock sent Pune Warriors India crashing to its eighth defeat in 10 outings in their Pepsi-IPL-VI encounter here on Tuesday.

“The Chennai Super Kings skipper’s audacious 45 not out off just 16 deliveries with four fours and three sixes piloted his team to 164 before the nervous home team tripped and fell to reach 127 for nine in reply. For CSK, Ravindra Jadeja bowled the first over and Albie Morkel the second in a spin-pace gambit. By the time Mohit Sharma completed his three-wicket act, forcing Aaron Finch to nick behind, trapping T. Suman with a ball seaming into the pads off the very next and deceiving Yuvraj Singh with away movement, PWI had lost the plot at the Sahara stadium,” says the Hindu report, adding that three run-outs hastened the slide, Suresh Raina’s pick-up and dive to leave Robin Uthappa short of the crease the perfect example of the intensity CSK brought to the middle.


“With 16 points from 10 games, the Chennai side widened the gap at the top of the table while PWI remained at the bottom with four points from 10 games.”

TOP PICKS