Chennai ends Kolkatta’s winning streak

Posted by Rakesh on 3/17/10 • Categorized as Chennai Super Kings,Indian Premier League,Kolkata Knight Riders

That was a perfect day for the Chennai team as they won their first match against Kolkata despit their skipper, MS Dhoni injured in the bowling of Shane Bond. The match at Eden Gardens was a tale of two Indian captains playing against each other. One was the best captains India had and the other was the captain who stood out to be better than him.

From a precarious 55 for 3 in 9.1 overs, Dhoni relentlessly counter-attacked to guide his team’s total to a fighting 164 for 3. His partner in the demolition job was S Badrinath, who batted brilliantly for his 33-ball 43. The duo forged a 109-run partnership for the fourth wicket and bailed out the team from a potentially embarrassing situation. They plundered 68 runs in the last five overs.

Chennai were wobbling at 55 for 3 in the 10th over when Dhoni joined Badrinath to slowly change things around on a track with slightly variable bounce. It wasn’t the traditional hit-everything-in-sight Twenty20 innings from them as they first strived to settle in with dabs and nudges before freeing their arms at the end.

Dhoni’s innings was contrasting a T20 innings as he first played cuts and jabs that gave him one and twos and once he found himself settled, he started his cameo. In the 18th over he stepped on the gas and slammed Laxmi Ratan Shulka for two fours and a six over long-on. In the penultimate over, he hammered Shane Bond for a couple of boundaries and a six. The over fetched 17 runs for the CSK. Dhoni hammered three sixes and six fours on his way to a match-winning half-century. His fine effort won him the man of the match award.

Until the final assault from the Chennai duo, nearly everything went according to Plan A for Kolkata. Bond got to swing it at pace, Ishant probed with his seam movement, Murali Kartik was at his canny best, Angelo Matthews was at his nagging self and Shukla kept it really tight as well. But Dhoni’s knock proved the difference between a below-par total and a defendable one.

KKR’s misery didn’t end with Dhoni’s innings and it lasted till the end of the match as their batsmen were outplayed by Chennai bowlers. Their collapse with Morkel removing the in-form Brad Hodge for a duck and he was followed by Manoj Tiwary who got his bails walking from their positions in the bowling of Gony.

Thereafter, the medium-pace duo of L Balaji and Justin Kemp who demolished the middle order by picking two wickets each in quick succession to leave the home team flattened with the score reading a hopeless 55 for 5. The KKR just gave up after skipper Ganguly was caught in the deep by Morkel off Kemp.

Towards the end, Laxmi Ratan Shukla (19) and Murali Kartik (21) only managed to delay the inevitable. The end was quite symbolic of the way KKR had played — Kartik was found short of the crease, as Badrinath threw down the wicket from backward point. Clearly, the KKR outfit was found short on effort and application and was outclassed by a superior team on the day.