Pune Warriors India did the unthinkable when they beat Chennai Super Kings at their home-ground with a good margin of 24 runs. Aaron Finch and Steve Smith were the stars of the day as they batted exceptionally well to set the target of 160 on the board for CSK. Later some brilliant bowling performances from Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rahul Sharma and Ashok Dinda restricted the CSK big guns -- MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina -- to chase down this competitive total at Chepauk, Chennai.

Here we bring before you the hits and flops from this match.

Hits

Aaron Finch: He played a stupendous knock of 67 runs off just 45 balls and took the game single-handedly away from CSK in first 10 overs. He targeted Dirk Nannes and Ravindra Jadeja which made the real difference as they turned out to be very expensive bowlers for CSK.

Steve Smith: Steve Smith grabbed the opportunities with both the hands as he performed brilliantly with the bat and scored 39 off just 16 balls he faced. His cameo made the real difference in the outcome of the match. Apart, his ground fielding was also very good as he took three very important catches at long-on. He was adjudged the Man-of-the-Match for his brilliant performance.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar: Kumar bowled his heart out and bowled 15 dot balls in his spell. He didn’t give away any boundary and picked up the two crucial wickets for just 12 runs. He stunned the batsmen with his bowling in the very beginning to put some pressure on CSK.

Ashok Dinda: Dinda was bowling much better than last match and was executing his yorkers really well and picked up the crucial wickets of MS Dhoni and Albie Morkel at very crucial time. Though he was bit expensive as he gave away those 34 runs but he was the one who pulled the match away from CSK.

Rahul Sharma: Sharma was at his very best and he picked up the crucial wicket of Dwayne Bravo. Bravo managed to score just one run and that simply turned the tables in favour of PWI. He gave away just 24 runs in his four overs.

Flops

MS Dhoni: Dhoni didn’t time the ball really well and dismissal of Ravindra Jadeja might have put him under more pressure which forced him to take the aerial route which cost him his wicket. Dinda was the wicket-taker and this wicket changed the complexion of the match. He scored just 10 runs off 13 balls.

Suresh Raina: Raina should have batted more sensibly but his failure to do so cost CSK this unexpected loss. Raina managed to score just eight runs off 10 balls he faced and threw away his wicket to Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Dirk Nannes: This might have been his worst bowling figures in IPL as he gave away 42 runs in his four overs and remained wicket-less till the end. He was smashed quite brutally by Aaron Finch in his initial overs which put the pressure on the whole bowling unit.

Dwayne Bravo: Bravo had a very bad day as he not just got smacked for runs but also didn’t make any contribution with the bat. He gave away 35 runs and picked up two wickets. Though it was a decent performance, but not when a player of his class bowls some very bad deliveries at very crucial stage of the match.

By Amit Chopra
Indian Sports News Network