A dominant Chennai Super Kings booked their berth in an IPL final for the fifth time, overpowering the Mumbai Indians by 48 runs in the first qualifier at the Kotla here on Tuesday. Set an imposing target of 193, Mumbai could only stutter their way to 144 in 18.4 overs.
Ravindra Jadeja (3/31) was the star bowler, dismissing three in-form Mumbai batsmen to choke the chase after Michael Hussey and Suresh Raina had put CSK in the driver’s seat with unbeaten half-centuries earlier.
Dwayne Bravo (3/9), towards the end, never allowed Mumbai any chance of a comeback into the match. Chennai have only missed out the final in the 2009 edition when the league was held in South Africa.
The Mumbai Indians, despite suffering an early setback in the form of Aditya Tare’s wicket in the second over, were given a rollicking start by Dwayne Smith. The Barbadian blasted 68 off 28 balls, with six boundaries and five sixes, to keep MI in hunt. Before Smith’s departure, MI were 86/1 after eight overs.
However, it was the magic arm of Jadeja that did the trick in choking MI’s run-chase. He first prised out Smith in the ninth over and followed it up with the wicket of an off-colour Dinesh Karthik in the 11th, both leg before.
Mumbai needed skipper Rohit Sharma to play an important role but all he could do was contribute a 15-ball 8 before being caught by Bravo off Chris Morris.
Jadeja, in his final over of the match, the 15th, had further success in the form of dangerman Kieron Pollard to finish at 3/31 from the match.
At 127/5, Mumbai needed to score 66 in their last five overs which proved beyond the reach of their tailenders.
Earlier, even as off the field happenings continued to make news, Chennai posted a mammoth 192/1 and only Harbhajan Singh escaped the onslaught with an economy rate of 6.5 from his four overs but went wicketless.
Hussey and Murali Vijay gave their team a fluent start in front of a decent crowd many of whom had turn up to see Sachin Tendulkar in action only to be disappointed as the Maestro was not match fit.
Hussey dispatched a full toss first up by Mitchell Johnson to the mid-wicket boundary and Vijay’s first hit to the ropes off Munaf Patel in the second over had a wristy elegance to it.
CSK raced to 27 in three overs and although first change Harbhajan bowled a tight first over, the former champions raised 47/0 in the Powerplay.
By the time Kieron Pollard came on in the eighth over, Mumbai had already used five bowlers. But the ploy worked, as Vijay was caught in the deep
The wicket slowed the innings a bit but even at 69/1 at the half way stage, Chennai were in a position to call the shots.
The Raina-Hussey association proved the ideal pairing for the situation. The duo raised 50 runs in 33 balls as CSK crossed the 100-run mark in 12.4 overs.
Hussey completed his half-century in 40 balls in 13th over but it was Raina’s onslaught that hurt MI
Raina completed his half-century off 29 balls in the 17th over and gave a half chance to Mumbai immediately after which Dwayne Smith failed to latch on to.
At 151/1 with 18 balls remaining and skipper M.S. Dhoni padded up to come in next, the signs looked ominous for Mumbai. And so it turned out with the unbeaten second wicket stand of 140.
Hussey finished the innings on a high with a couple of cheeky strokes behind the wicket as the final over turned out to be CSK’s best with 19 runs.