Chennai Super Kings prised out a 13-run victory over Perth Scorchers at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Saturday to jump ahead in the pecking order for a Champions League T20 semifinal spot.
In a match devoid of much pyrotechnics, CSK earned the result through the disciplined efforts of its bowlers. Their role, however, assumed significance only because of the efforts of skipper M.S. Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja, who had earlier taken CSK to a respectable total.
After being put in, a stuttering CSK innings was given a late impetus by Dhoni (35, 16b, 4x6) and Ravindra Jadeja (44 n.o., 28b, 4x4, 2x6) — the duo fed the starved team 66 runs in the last four overs.
Disciplined bowlingUntil this point, the ‘visiting’ bowlers hardly ever overpitched, dropping just short of length with the new ball, before turning to the yorker as the overs went on.
The Australians were well served by their fielders as well, exemplified by Nathan Coulter-Nile, who sent the in-form Suresh Raina packing with a fierce direct-hit at the far end from short third-man.
It was Dhoni who broke the shackles with three monstrous sixes in the penultimate over, bowled by Yasir Arafat. The second stood out, as he flicked a low full toss over fine-leg and out of the ground. He followed it up by clearing the mid-wicket fence off the next ball, going deep into his crease to get under a full delivery.
Jadeja batted in much the same vein, and their quickfire 67-run partnership for the sixth wicket took CSK to 155 in its 20 overs.
Left-arm quick Ashish Nehra and offie R. Ashwin then took the new ball, and despite the modest target, Scorchers never looked settled.
Nehra took out opener Craig Simmons with a slower ball in the third over, and soon after, Ashwin rattled Ashton Agar’s stumps with a quicker one.
Ashwin went on to pick up two more wickets — Mitchell Marsh and Sam Whiteman — to further derail the opposition.
