Daredevils are shredded by mighty CSK
Dwayne Smith took charge of his team CSK against a mammoth DD target of 178 to register another commanding win by 8 wickets with two balls to spare in match 26 of Pepsi IPL 7. Smith’s innings of 79 was carved out with the help of four 4s and eight 6s off 51 balls to earn the man of the match award. CSK who have got a winning habit in IPL made this edition no different as their incredible players made short work of a difficult target to totally disintegrate Pietersen’s DD. The men in yellow played as if they were destined to win wearing their confident attitude like badges.
Smith during his blinder of an innings was supported by Brendon McCullum and Suresh Raina in phases of the run-chase. The only blemish in Dwayne Smith’s innings was that he could not hit the winning runs as he got out in the 19th over leaving it on the able shoulders of his captain MS Dhoni who almost never fails as a finisher. Brendon McCullum and Smith’s onslaught left the DD bowlers clueless and fielders messy. Their opening stand put together 82 runs in 11.2 overs. McCullum left after scoring 32 being caught by Vijay off Shukla near the long-on boundary. Suresh Raina and Smith continued their flourishing act that not only put CSK on course for a win but took the thrill out of the match that became very predictable. As a result, CSK cruised to 127 for the loss of 1 wicket after 15 overs.
A miserly 16th over by Jaydev Unadkat yielding only 5 runs put DD in contention for a win as a downpour stopped play bringing in the possibility of the Duckworth-Lewis Method coming into play. By stroke of luck if the D/L method had come into play at that point DD would have won by one run. However to CSK’s good fortune play resumed and MS Dhoni who came at the fall of Smith struck a six and the winning four in the last over to take his team home with two balls to spare. Raina remained unbeaten on 47 at the other end.
MS Dhoni upon winning the toss had invited DD to bat first. DD openers once again failed to capitalize on the initial momentum granted by opener Quinton de Kock, 24 from 16 balls. Murali Vijay and de Kock had an unfortunate mix-up in the fifth over that cost the later his wicket as he could not make his ground while returning back to his crease from a non existent run. Kevin Pietersen left without scoring as Mohit Sharma scalped him up to leave DD shaken and stirred on 37 for two in 4.3 overs. A late flourish aided DD to set up a huge 178 for five that included Dinesh Karthik’s 50 + innings, Vijay’s 35, JP Duminy’s 28 and Kedar Jadhav’s 29 in their allotted 20 overs.
