Trinidad and Tobago required a win, or had to go down by a narrow margin, in its last Group ‘B’ encounter against Chennai Super Kings to enter the semifinals of the Champions League T20. The Caribbean side coasted to a comprehensive eight-wicket victory at the Ferozeshah Kotla here on Wednesday as CSK suffered an uncharacteristic batting failure.
Right from the toss, everything fell in place for T&T. It opted to field, bundled out CSK for a meagre total of 118 and overhauled the target in style to confirm its place in the last four.
In the semifinals, T&T, which replaced CSK at the top of the group, will play Mumbai Indians here on Saturday. CSK will travel to Jaipur to take on Rajasthan Royals on Friday.
T&T fielded well and backed the bowlers who deserve credit for maintaining discipline in a high-pressure match. T&T’s fielders stopped crucial runs, took good catches and pulled off three run-outs.
However, CSK’s batting slump, which triggered the outflow of thousands of fans from the nearly-packed stadium, was unexpected. Despite Michael Hussey’s dismissal in the second over, Murali Vijay and Suresh Raina got together to gather runs at a brisk pace and set the platform for a healthy aggregate.
Best partnership
Vijay relied on his timing and placement to execute four classy boundaries in his 24-ball 27. Raina slammed three fours, and a six down the ground, for a 29-ball 38.
The pair added 55 runs for the second wicket, which turned out to be the best partnership for CSK.
Lendl Simmons, a part-time medium-pacer, was lucky as he got rid of the duo in back-to-back overs.
Vijay inside-edged a wide delivery on to his stumps while Raina played a pre-determined shotstraight to short fine-leg. At 78 for three in the 11th over, CSK still had the resources and overs to post an imposing target.
However, the team kept losing wickets as T&T happily grabbed every opportunity on offer.
CSK skipper M.S. Dhoni was the only other batsman to reach a decent score.
Chasing CSK’s modest score, T&T did not face any hurdles.
Plenty to spare
Openers Simmons (63) and Evin Lewis (38) made sure that their team reached home with plenty to spare.
Scoreboard
Chennai Super Kings: Michael Hussey b Rampaul 1 (2b), Murali Vijay b Simmons 27 (24b, 4x4), Suresh Raina c Rampaul b Simmons 38 (29b, 3x4, 1x6), M.S. Dhoni c Simmons b Emrit 25 (25b, 2x4), Dwayne Bravo c Ramdin b Emrit 2 (4b), Ravindra Jadeja (run out) 3 (6b), Albie Morkel b Rampaul 4 (16b), S. Badrinath run out 3 (5b), R. Ashwin run out 9 (5b, 1x6), Jason Holder c Simmons b Emrit 0 (1b), Mohit Sharma (not out) 0 (1b); Extras (lb-3, w-3): 6; Total (in 19.4 overs): 118.
Fall of wickets: 1-7 (Hussey), 2-62 (Vijay), 3-78 (Raina), 4-84 (Dwayne Bravo), 5-85 (Jadeja), 6-102 (Dhoni), 7-106 (Morkel), 8-116 (Badrinath), 9-117 (Holder).
Trinidad and Tobago bowling: Samuel Badree 4-0-24-0, Ravi Rampaul 4-0-31-2, Yannick Ottley 2-0-17-0, Rayad Emrit 3.4-0-21-3, Lendl Simmons 2-0-10-2, Sunil Narine 4-0-12-0.
Trinidad and Tobago: Lendl Simmons c Mohit b Ashwin 63 (41b, 5x4, 4x6), Evin Lewis lbw b Raina 38 (35b, 6x4), Darren Bravo (not out) 11 (14b, 1x4), Yannick Ottley (not out) 1 (1b); Extras (b-5, lb-1): 6; Total (for two wkts. in 15.1 overs): 119.
Fall of wickets: 1-79 (Lewis), 2-116 (Simmons).
Chennai Super Kings bowling: Ravichandran Ashwin 4-0-24-1, Albie Morkel 2-0-18-0, Ravindra Jadeja 2-0-30-0, Suresh Raina 4-0-16-1, Jason Holder 2-0-17-0, Dwayne Bravo 1.1-0-8-0.
Man-of-the-match: Lendl Simmons.
