Chennai Super Kings produced a clinical all-round show to score a comfortable four-wicket victory over Yorkshire, to exit from the Champions League Twenty20 tournament on a high, here on Monday.
Opting to field, Chennai restricted Yorkshire to 140 for six on the back of some impressive bowling from pacers Albie Morkel (two for 12) and Doug Bollinger (two for 16) and then romped home with six balls to spare in the inconsequential Group B match at Kingsmead.
Man-of-the-match S. Badrinath top-scored with a 38-ball 47 (4x4), while Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who played under Suresh Raina's captaincy in the match, made 31 (23b, 2x4, 2x6). Raina himself contributed 31 (30b, 1x4, 1x6).
Chennai, the 2010 champion, ended third in Group B with eight points behind Sydney Sixers and Highveld Lions, the two teams which had made it to the semifinals.
Early jolts
Chennai did not have the best of starts as it lost opener Faf du Plessis (1) in the second over, off the bowling of Steven Patterson. The other opener Murali Vijay (13) struck two fours in the next over before he was out in the fifth over.
Chennai was then at a wobbly 26 for two but Raina and Badrinath settled down quickly and shared a 48-run stand for the third wicket from 6.9 overs to take Chennai closer to the target.
Dhoni, who came in at 74 for three in the 12th over, was watchful for a while before easing himself off with a six off Adil Rashid in the 15th over.
Chennai needed 33 runs to win from the last five overs and Dhoni again hit a six off Azeem Rafiq in the 16th over. Badrinath departed in the 17th over and Ravindra Jadeja did not last long leaving Dhoni and Morkel to finish the job.
However, the India captain was bowled out by Iain Wardlaw in the penultimate ball of the 19th over while attempting his trademark ‘helicopter shot’.
Dhoni gets a bowl
Earlier, apart from Morkel and Bollinger, Ben Hilfenhaus got a wicket while off-spinner R. Ashwin, continuing his less-than-impressive show, went wicket-less.
Dhoni bowled two expensive overs conceding 25 runs without a wicket.
For Yorkshire, Gary Ballance smashed a 38-ball 58 (1x4, 5x6).
The scores:
Yorkshire : A. Gale c Bollinger b Morkel 23, A. Lyth c Vijay b Hilfenhaus 11, J. Root c Saha b Morkel 6, D. Miller c Ashwin b Bollinger 28, G. Ballance (run out) 58, A. Rashid (not out) 4, D. Hodgson c du Plessis b Bollinger 1; Extras (b-1, lb-2, w-6): 9; Total (For six wkts. in 20 overs): 140
Fall of wickets: 1-35, 2-36, 3-43, 4-121, 5-137.
Chennai Super Kings bowling: Ashwin 4-0-25-0, Bollinger 4-0-16-2, Hilfenhaus 4-0-32-1, Morkel 4-0-12-2, Raina 1-0-12-0, Jadeja 1-0-15-0, Dhoni 2-0-25-0.
Chennai Super Kings: F. du Plessis c Rafiq b Patterson 1, M. Vijay c Lyth b Hannon-Dalby 13, S. Raina c Miller b Hannon-Dalby 31, S. Badrinath b Wardlaw 47, M.S. Dhoni b Wardlaw 31, R. Jadeja c Ballance b Patterson 5, A. Morkel (not out) 4, W. Saha (not out) 1; Extras (lb-7, w-1): 8; Total (for six wkts. in 19 overs): 141.
Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-26, 3-74, 4-117, 5-132, 6-140.
Yorkshire bowling: Wardlaw 4-0-23-2, Patterson 3-0-22-2, Hannon-Dalby 4-0-23-2, Root 1-0-8-0, Rafiq 3-0-26-0, Rashid 4-0-32-0.
