Pune: Chennai Super Kings registered a thumping victory against Pune Warriors India as they defeated them by 37 runs at Sahara Subrata Roy Stadium here on Tuesday.
It was the brilliant spell by Mohit Sharma that dismantled the Pune’s top-order and made sure that they were not going to win it with ease. Pune Warriors were done and dusted within their first 10 overs as they lost half a dozen wickets by that time. It was some heroics efforts of Steve Smith, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Kane Richardson, who tried to bat till the 20th over, that saved Pune Warriors from a humiliating defeat.
Earlier, it was Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni and Subramaniam Badrinath who helped CSK to reach the stiff total of 164 runs in their 20 overs. Raina scored 63 off 50 balls whereas Dhoni stole the show by scoring 45 runs off just 16 balls that he faced. Badrinath got out after making terrific 34 runs off 31 balls. Dhoni was adjudged man-of-the-match for his swashbuckling knock.
Chasing down the target of 165 runs against a quality bowling attack of CSK was never an easy task and Mohit Sharma made it look even more difficult as he picked up three quick wickets in his second over. Pune warriors lost the three crucial wickets of Aaron Finch, Yuvraj Singh and T Suman which pushed them on the back-foot. They were reduced to 6/61 in first 10 overs and it was their inability to build up a good partnership that hurt them quite badly once again.
But Steve Smith and Kane Richardson put up a great fight and tried to score as many runs as possible to reduce the margin of defeat. Smith scored 35 runs off 39 balls including three crisp boundaries. He was dismissed by Ravindra Jadeja.
Richardson also made some valuable contribution as he scored 26 runs off just 20 balls whereas it was Bhuvneshwar Kumar who fought till the very end and remained not out at 24 runs. PWI scored 127 runs in their 20 overs.
Dwayne Bravo did brilliant work with the ball as he gave away just 18 runs in his four overs and picked up one wicket of Rahul Sharma.
Batting first, CSK were reduced to 2/28 in the first six overs. But Raina and Badrinath came into their rescue. They added 75 runs for third wicket and set up a perfect launch pad for MS Dhoni who smacked Ashok Dinda for one four and one six in the very first over that he faced.
Raina reached his half-century and kept rotating the strikes. Dhoni unleashed himself and reached 45 off just 16 balls. Raina ended up scoring 63 runs off 50 balls that he faced and scored five fours and one six.
By ISN