Chennai choke to lose in super over
by CricketArchive Staff Reporter
DateLine: 21st March 2010
Chennai Super Kings contrived to lose a match which they
should have won quite easily at the MA Chidambaram stadium on Sunday.
The home team choked while chasing a modest score and squandered a
winning position to tie the contest. In the super over, Yuvraj Singh
pulled out an unlikely reverse sweep to see King XI, Punjab home.
Kings XI finally tasted success against the Chennai side after five
straight defeats.
Muralitharan was at his wizardly best as Kings XI Punjab was
restricted to an under par score of 136 for eight. That total was made
possible largely due to the pyrotechnics of Yuvraj Singh (43) who
finally found his much wonted form in this match and the inform Irfan
Pathan (39) who opened the innings.
Muralitharan’s weaved his magic and reminded his detractors that there
is still a lot of fizz in his bowling when he prised out his Sri
Lankan team-mates Sangakkara and Jayawardene with subtle variations in
line and flight. Despite Irfan's forcing shots off Gony at the start,
Kings XI stuttered to 64 for four at the end of the 11th over. Gony
leaked runs while Morkel, Ashwin and Balaji kept the batsmen on a
tight leash. After Murali had conjured up magic deliveries in
successive overs to get rid of the dangerous Sangakkara and
Jayawardene it was left to Yuvraj to shepherd the innings. The batsman
biffed 43 runs punctuated with trademark shots off his legs and down
the ground as Kings XI managed 72 runs off the last nine overs.
Hayden and Parthiv Patel gave the Chennai Super Kings a good start.
Hayden with the Mangoose bat wasn’t destructive but was effective as
he found the odd boundaries to keep the score-rate tickling. Parthiv
too punished the loose deliveries as Chennai cruised to 65 for no loss
in the 9th over before a rush of blood cost Hayden his wicket. Chennai
was in command when Juan Theron struck twice in the 13th over. Parthiv
tapped the ball at his feet and called Raina for a run but Theron ran
faster and kicked the ball on to the stumps catching Raina short.
Theron won a lucky lbw appeal against Murali Vijay when the ball was
clearly going down the leg side. The two wickets gave Punjab a sniff
off a chance. Parthiv Patel finally lost his patience after compiling
a half-century and was stumped off Chawla. Gony missed a crude slog
and Morkel and Ashwin struggled to get the ball off square in the last
over when the homeside needed 10 runs. Ashwin was caught off the last
ball but Chennai manage to tie the scores.
In the super over, Theron bowled Hayden but Raina hit a six as Chennai
scored only 10 runs. Jayawardene smote Murali for a six but the bowler
got the batsman for the second time in the match. Yuvraj Singh reverse
swept Murali to snatch an exciting win for the visitors.
