Hussey, Nehra combine to quell RCB’s challenge

The Chennai team will take on Mumbai Indians in its sixth final in eight years

May 23, 2015 03:25 am | Updated November 16, 2021 05:04 pm IST - RANCHI:

Mahendra Singh Dhoni did not disappoint his hometown fans while getting his team Chennai Super Kings into its sixth Indian Premier League final in eight years.

Qualifier-2 of Pepsi IPL-8 at the JSCA International Stadium here on Friday saw Dhoni’s CSK quell the challenge of Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore by three wickets and set a date for the final with Mumbai Indians.

RCB had set a target of 140 runs which CSK overhauled with a ball to spare.

The title clash of the current edition will strike a sense of déjà vu when CSK and MI figure in a rerun of the 2013 final, at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

Veterans at it Interestingly, two of the most experienced members of the CSK family — 39-year-old Michael Hussey and 36-year-old Ashish Nehra — realised the passage to the final with sterling performances, defying the notion that this format of the game is more of a celebration of youth.

Hussey, who will be celebrating his 40th birthday barely five days from now, found his way into the team after Brendon McCullum was recalled to lead New Zealand in the series against England. The Australian left-hander, who could score only 17 runs in the previous two outings, did the star turn with a composed 56 (46b, 3x4, 2x6) that laid the foundation for CSK’s win.

A batting debacle having forced it to surrender to Mumbai Indians in Qualifier-1 three days ago, CSK saw its revival through the vintage Hussey. Captain Dhoni was the next best contributor with a patient 26.

Three wickets — Pawan Negi (12), Dwayne Bravo (0) and Dhoni — fell between 135 and 139 towards the end raising jitters in the CSK camp, but R. Ashwin played calmly to ensure the win with a ball to spare.

Smart move After Dhoni opted to field, Nehra left some of the best batsmen in the world guessing, moving the ball in the air and off the seam.

His best effort came in CSK’s fifth and his third over when he saw off Kohli, whose uppish flick off the hip ended in the clasp of Mohit Sharma at short fine-leg. Dhoni, who seemed to have finely judged his India teammate’s penchant for the flick, had set his field accordingly.

Kohli, the current India Test captain, was picking the ball well and had punished Nehra with a boundary and a six in his previous over. But the veteran CSK bowler set the trap with a quicker delivery as Kohli went ahead with the flick just to see it going down Sharma’s throat.

Before RCB could recover from the loss of its captain, Nehra inflicted the second blow trapping the dreaded A.B. de Villiers plumb in front of the wicket. The South Africa skipper found himself cramped for space while negotiating a sharp in-swinger.

Unlucky Nehra may have been a bit unlucky not to have got Gayle to a confident ‘lbw’ appeal. Nehra ended the opening spell with commendable figures of 3-0-18-2.

With Ashwin giving able support from the other end, RCB crawled to 29 for two at the end of six overs, one of its poorest PowerPlay totals in the tournament.

Ashwin scalped one of the emerging hopes in the RCB batting line-up, Mandeep Singh, who went for an uppish sweep and ended in the hands of Michael Hussey at deep square-leg.

Continuing to remain miserly with his bowling, Ashwin ended his spell with figures of 4-0-13-1.

RCB reached a paltry 46 for three after 10 overs and its hopes of posting a big total appeared to be vanishing quickly.

After Suresh Raina ended the run of West Indian big-hitter Chris Gayle at 41 (43b, 2x4, 3x6) in the 14th over, RCB was tottering at 80 for four, when Dinesh Karthik and Sarfaraz Khan added some crucial runs to lend respectability to the total.

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