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Dhoni all praise for Muralitharan

Yuvraj Singh bemoans his team’s lack of solid partnerships

DURBAN: Chennai Super Kings skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni heaped praise on Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan as his side reached the IPL semifinals on Wednesday.

Chennai, the runner-up in the inaugural tournament in 2008, led a disciplined spin attack in a 24-run win over Kings XI Punjab.

The Sri Lankan off-spinner finished with two for 8 off four overs as Chennai restricted Punjab to 92 for eight after posting 116 for nine.

“I think Muralitharan put pressure on the opposition nicely. They just wanted to play him through because the target was not big and I think that was a mistake,” said Dhoni.

“Because on this kind of track, even the best of spinners, you want to put pressure on them.”

Nobody got going

Punjab skipper Yuvraj Singh bemoaned his team’s lack of solid partnerships.

“We’re pretty disappointed because we really needed that win. Unfortunately we couldn’t do it and nobody got going,” said Yuvraj. “It wasn’t a great wicket to bat on, it was two-paced but we can’t blame anyone really, you’ve got to blame yourself.”

Man-of-the-Match Muralitharan was superbly backed by off-spinners Suresh Raina (two for 17) and Ravichandran Ashwin (two for 13). The trio conceded only 38 runs off 12 overs. Australian Luke Pomersbach top-scored with 26 in Punjab’s dismal batting display in the last match.

Modest total

Punjab earlier put in an impressive bowling performance to restrict Chennai to a modest total, with fast bowlers S. Sreesanth and Irfan Pathan taking two wickets apiece.

Australian paceman Brett Lee also prevented the Chennai batsmen from scoring freely, conceding only 16 in his four overs.

Chennai added 40 for the opening wicket off just 4.5 overs through India’s Parthiv Patel (32) and Australian George Bailey (15), but lost its way after the openers’ dismissals. Raina was the other main scorer with 20.

Sreesanth got two wickets in three balls.

On fire

He had Subramaniam Badrinath (four) caught by Pathan at mid-on and then bowled Dhoni for just two.

Pathan removed New Zealander Jacob Oram (17) and Ashwin (eight) to finish with two for 32. — Agencies

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