CSK vs MI, Elimination Final (N), Bengaluru, May 23 2012
Match Result: Chennai Super Kings won by 38 runs
Player of the Match: MS Dhoni
Match Report: Chennai Super Kings always thrive in times of difficulty. At one point in this season, they were hanging by a thread to stay alive and now they’re just two wins away from a third consecutive title. They didn’t fear after losing two wickets in two balls in the second over, they didn’t allow a few quick wickets in the latter half of their innings to affect the tempo built by an impressive counterattack.
Instead, they took the fightback to a larger level, led by their captain MS Dhoni, whose fireworks left Mumbai Indians scarred on their way out of the competition. Super Kings’ determination and tenacity proved too much for Mumbai Indians, a promising campaign ending in disappointment.
Asked to bat on one of the most productive tracks this year, Michael Hussey and S Badrinath rode on some fortune to help their team recover from trouble and Dhoni then took that attacking avatar that had made him a sensation when he hit the international scene.
Harbhajan was himself smashed for two sixes before Hussey took RP Singh for two boundaries. The first four overs after the timeout produced a massive 47. Hussey, Badrinath and Ravindra Jadeja, however, fell in a space of 11 deliveries, but the last eight overs of the innings were to produce 105 runs.
The efforts of those three, together with Dwayne Bravo’s late surge boosted Super Kings just as Mumbai Indians dropped their guard with the ball. Only Dwayne Smith’s early attack in the chase gave them some hope, but that didn’t last long.
Dhoni: “We were just watching and enjoying the games when we were done with our league stage, all the results went our way. Maybe I should keep my hair longer if it can get me the runs, but a lot of credit to Badri and Hussey. Badri is an unsung hero, later me and Bravo could do well with the bat.
The helicopter shot was because of the tennis ball cricket, used to play from 17-18 yards and the bowlers sent down a lot of yorkers but not an easy shot to play either, could end up hitting the ankles as well!”
Harbhajan: “Obviously, we are disappointed, but cannot change the result, CSK played like champions, Dhoni’s innings was the game-changer, took it away from us. We could not do too much about his innings, we have not achieved as much as we should have.
The reason for removing myself from the attack was to get RP Singh a bowl, first ball he bowled, the edge should have gone to hand and missed.”
Bravo: “Batting with Mahi makes my job easier, I know his ability to trike the ball. It wasn’t a typical Bangalore wicket. We were very pleased with it …. Two days ago he [Pollard] sent me a message asking me to pack my bags and go home …it was my turn today to tell him.”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.