As it happened: Chennai Super Kings versus Kings XI

CSK 149-8 after 20 overs Kulasekara 5, Ashwin 7 Great fight shown by Kings XI after not getting a very big total. Their bowlers got regular breakthrough and Azhar Mahmood is showing just how they need to bowl in T20. Lots of slower balls and variations in pace are the way to go and that helped KXIP get regular breakthrough and a well-deserved win. Kings XI Punjab won by 7 runs. CSK 136-7 after 18.5 overs DJ Bravo c Chawla b Kumar 30 (21b, 2x6) Four! So CSK got 15 runs off the second last over. Chennai Super Kings require another 17 runs with 3 wickets and 6 balls remaining. Bravo also fell but this is going to be close. CSK 118-6 after 17 overs Bravo 16, Morkel 4 Chennai Super Kings require another 39 runs with 4 wickets and 18 balls remaining. That’s a run-rate of 13 per over. Not easy. But one good over could do it for them. CSK 98-6 after 14.3 overs RA Jadeja c Hussey b Chawla 17 (11b, 1x4, 1x6) CSK are committing hara-kiri here. They are just throwing away the wickets and panicking. Jadeja just skied that and Hussey took an easy catch. The ball before the dismissal, Bravo was dropped too. This is strange cricket and Chennai are in big trouble. CSK 88-5 after 13.2 overs MS Dhoni run out 1 (4b) Oooooooh. Dhoni gone now! Whats happening! Somethings happening for sure! Dhoni hit that hard into the ground and the ball didn’t go anywhere. Dhoni didn’t know where it was but the keeper did. Huge breakthrough for KXIP! CSK 87-4 after 12.4 overs WP Saha b Hussey 6 (14b) Saha falls now – inside edge off a wild sweep attempt went back onto the stumps. One wicket after another. Would this be an upset? But as long as Chennai have players like Dhoni in the dug out, they won’t be worried. And he comes out next. CSK 71-3 after 10.2 overs SK Raina st Saini b Chawla 15 (17b 1x4) Raina gone for 15! Good piece of bowling by Chawla, got his stumped with a straighter one. Things starting to get tight here. CSK 62-2 after 7.4 overs S Badrinath c sub (P Dogra) b Azhar Mahmood 25 (18b 4x4) Azhar Mahmood has a huge variety of slower balls and that will be vital on this wicket. His years in county cricket have allowed him to hone his skills well and KXIP could have certainly found a use for him earlier. CSK 47-1 after 5.3 overs F du Plessis c & b Azhar Mahmood 29 (20b, 3x4, 2x6) Big wicket give how good Faf was looking. By Mahmood’s change of place was superb. Faf was completely fooled and guess that’s the value of experience. CSK 45-0 after 5 overs Faf 27, Badrinath 18 Du Plessis striking the ball superbly. The South African is a powerful, clean hitter of the ball and he is proving to be just the right guy at the top for CSK. CSK 20-0 after 3 overs Faf 8, Badrinath 12 At the same stage, KXIP were 25 for no loss but CSK don’t need to worry. KXIP had major problems towards the end of their innings, if CSK can avoid them they should win. CSK innings CSK 2-0 after 1 overs Faf 1, Badrinath 1 Slow and steady start by CSK. They will know that if they can keep wickets in hand, they should win this easily. They have more than enough firepower and allrounders to do that. KXIP 156-8 after 20 overs Praveen Kumar 6, P Awana 0 KXIP had a good start to the innings but weren’t able to finish it well. They were 97-2 after 12 overs but then struggled to hit the big shots. CSK, on the other hand, made a good comeback and will be favourites to win this now. KXIP 138-6 after 17.3 overs PP Chawla c Bravo b Morkel 0 (2b) Another wicket. 160 seems like a tough task now but KXIP needs at least that much! Chennai have staged a good comeback of late and they have done it with wickets. KXIP 138-5 after 17.1 overs DJ Hussey c Jakati b Morkel 7 (4b 1x4) Still a mystery why he kept himself do low down the order. He had quite a good game last time round and should have batted much higher. Anyway, it’s all falling apart for the Kings XI. KXIP 133-4 after 16.5 overs Mandeep Singh c Raina b Bravo 56 (50b, 5x4, 1x6) The tired Mandeep finally falls. He skied that and Raina took it easily. He had a tough time dealing with the heat but it was a vital knock for KXIP. KXIP 127-3 after 15.5 overs D Miller c Dhoni b Morkel 19 (15b, 2x4) Miller was done in by the bouncers. One fast and then a slower one. Dhoni took it easily and once again a KXIP batsman has fallen after getting a good start. Mandeep has got his fifty but it hasn’t been fast enough. KXIP 113-2 after 14 overs Mandeep 49, Miller 9 KXIP are slowing down now. The wickets and the heat have sapped the energy out of Mandeep. Miller has played some good shots but someone needs to play a blinder. The average first innings score in Chennai is 166. KXIP 97-2 after 12 overs Azhar Mahmood lbw b Bravo 18 (12b, 2x6) Mahmood caught in front of his stumps by Bravo. That was out! The umpire had no doubt. But it was a nice little cameo, especially the two successive sixes he hit off Jadeja. David Miller is in next. Mandeep seems to be struggling with the heat. KXIP 77-1 after 10 overs Mandeep 36, Azhar Mahmood 4 Interesting move to push Azhar up the order. 14 balls since the last four was hit but the former Pakistani cricketer can hit the big shots. Mandeep needs to just continue playing his own game. He needs to stay there for as long as possible. KXIP 68-1 after 8.1 overs SE Marsh run out 32 (22b, 4x4, 1x6) Marsh gone in the most unfortunate manner possible. Ashwin deflected Mandeep Singh’s straight drive on to the stumps and the Aussie was just out! Worst possible way to get out, he was striking the ball well. KXIP 68-0 after 8 overs Mandeep 32, Marsh 32 Big over for Kings XI as Marsh got stuck into Jakati and hit 17 runs in the eighth over. Some superb hitting by the Aussie, who has now scored over 1500 runs in the IPL now. KXIP 43-0 after 6 overs Mandeep 28, Marsh 11 Intelligent batting by Kings XI. They are not trying anything silly but are playing, good solid shots, which is exactly what they should be looking to do on this wicket. KXIP 30-0 after 4 overs Mandeep 17, Marsh 7 Bit of a slow down by the ball is already turning a lot. The batsmen will need to be careful against the spinners and Chennai have three of them. Others like Raina can also come in and do the same. Might be time to recaliberate and set sights on lower target – 140 would be competitive. KXIP 20-0 after 2 overs Mandeep 11, Marsh 6 Good, positive start by Kings XI. Saina had been opening well but Shaun Marsh was definitely the man in form. He needed to spend more time up the order. They will do well to have David Hussey up the order as well after his knock in the last match. Pre-game Kings XI won the toss and elected to bat first. David Hussey wants to put the runs up on the board and make it as hard as possible for Chennai to chase. Adam Gilchrist still isn’t back to full fitness, so for the moment, Hussey remains skipper. Dhoni, on the other hand, is looking to keep things as simple as possible. The Super Kings have made one change to the XI – medium-pacer Yo Mahesh is dropped and left-arm spinner Shadab Jakati is back in playing XI because of the conditions which should favour the spinners. It is very hot in Chennai as usual and the humidity is also very high, as usual. We also expect the cricket to be electrifying as usual. Squads: KXIP XI: N Saini, M Singh, S Marsh, D Hussey, A Mahmood, D Miller, B Sharma, P Chawla, P Kumar, B Bhatt, P Awana Super Kings: S Badrinath, Faf du Plessis, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni(capt & wk), Dwayne Bravo, Albie Morkel, Ravindra Jadeja, Wriddhiman Saha, Nuwan Kulasekara, R Ashwin, Shadab Jakati.