Chennai Super Kings vs Titans, M3 - Report: CLT20-2013

The Chennai Super Kings announced themselves in the Karbonn Smart CLT20 2013 with a four-wicket victory over the Titans. Set to chase 186 on a track that had good pace and bounce, CSK were powered by cameos from Suresh Raina and Michael Hussey and romped past the finish line in the 19th over. (Also Read: Chennai Super Kings vs Titans, M3 - Stats Highlights: CLT20-2013)

The CSK run-chase was rocked in the first over when Roelof van der Merwe breached past the defence of Murali Vijay. After a couple of quiet overs, during which Suresh Raina picked up three boundaries, the southpaw turned on the heat when he pulled a Morne Morkel bouncer into the stands at midwicket. In that very over – the fourth of the innings – Morkel lost his radar, offered lots of width, sprayed it down the leg side and banged it short too. One particular delivery landed so far down the leg-side that the ‘keeper couldn’t get his hands to it and the ball raced away to the fence. (Also Read: Michael Hussey: Raina's Blitz Lets Me Play My Own Game)

The following over from Marchant de Lange cost the Titans 14 runs. Raina dispatched a length delivery into the stands at square-leg, after which the bowler delivered one wide outside off stump and the ball sailed between the wicketkeeper and slip to the boundary.

The 89-run partnership – which included smart running between the wickets – was broken when Raina chipped one from David Wiese to mid-off; Raina made 47 from 28 balls.

However, Hussey was unperturbed and true to his reputation kept accumulating runs. While Raina’s knock was all about muscle and power, Hussey’s effort was all about timing and finding gaps. He too perished for 47 in the 10th over after he miscued Morkel to de Villiers at mid-off.

Then, Dwayne Bravo’s 26-ball 38 hastened the run-chase. The Trinidadian was involved in a 58-run partnership for the fourth wicket with S Badrinath, who played his part to perfection. But there was a minor stutter towards the end with Bravo, MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja falling in the space of 11 runs. Ironically for the Titans it was their own lad who scored the winning runs for CSK – Albie Morkel struck Rowan Richards through covers to take CSK home in the 19th over. Badrinath remained unconquered with a run-a-ball 20.

Earlier in the evening, AB de Villiers played a savage knock after the opening pair of Henry Davids (52) and Jacques Rudolph (21) laid a solid foundation with a 46-run stand for the Titans.

Batting at No.3, AB de Villiers took his time to get used to the pace and bounce of the pitch, and once he found his feet, he turned brutal. The first sign of aggression came in the 11th over when he deposited Jadeja into the stands past midwicket. There was no stopping him thereafter; it rained fours and sixes from his willow. From 11 after his first nine deliveries, he raced to his half-century in 27 balls. It didn’t matter to him who the bowler was, what kind of a delivery it was or where the ball pitched; once he was in the zone, he was ruthless. He hit three boundaries and seven sixes – including the biggest hit of the competition thus far – in his 36-ball 77 before falling in the 19th over. The 29-year-old hit Jadeja for consecutive sixes and a boundary in the 19th over and attempted to send one into orbit yet again, but miscued and holed out to the man at long-off.

Davids (52) and Farhaan Behardien (21) were the other important contributors in the Titans innings. The Titans looked set for a total in excess of 200, but eventually finished the 20 overs at 185/5.

For the Chennai Super Kings, the new-ball pair of Mohit Sharma and Jason Holder were the best bowlers on the night, though they did not pick up any wickets. The usually tidy R Ashwin and Jadeja struggled with discipline, primarily because of the dew in the outfield. Dwayne Bravo picked up two wickets to finish with figures of 34/2.

Trivia: 23 of the 42 deliveries bowled by R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were fuller in length. The Titans batsmen scored 59 runs of these deliveries.

Chennai Super Kings won the match despite their batsmen scoring fewer runs than their opponents. That was primarily because the Titans were guilty of conceding 24 runs through wides, which in the final analysis had a telling impact on the result of the match.

Suresh Raina scored 21 runs off the nine short deliveries bowled at him by the Titans bowlers.

Scorecard

Man of the Match: Suresh Raina for his 28-ball 47.

MS Dhoni What really pleased me most was when Huss and Raina got out and come back into the dressing room, the were really upset and that really says a lot. It was a difficult target to chase, but Raina and Hussey batted really well. We were just looking to see how the first ten overs were going to turn out as the ball would be drier and could swing. But they saw through that period well and after that they attacked and put the bad balls away which is very important during a chase like this. I was a little worried initially after we'd given away so many runs, but we'll have to tighten up. Even saving six or seven runs makes a difference because say its the 20th over it could be the difference between chasing 11 runs or 18.

Suresh Raina is the Man of the Match and he says his stint with the India A side when they went to South Africa helped him work on his short-ball play. He added saying Super Kings had had a good practice session before the tournament and they knew Titans had bowlers that could bowl over 140kph, but he was concentrating on just timing the ball as well as he could.

Henry Davids agreed: It was a very good score, defendable score but we gave away far too many extras. Back of a length balls on the stumps were difficult to get away and that was the plan. We just couldn't execute it. The dew made things difficult as well, as the bowlers couldn't grip the ball well enough

Michael Hussey: They set a pretty good target, but we knew there was a lot of dew on the ground which would make it difficult for the spinners. We just wanted to get a good start and then work on that. Our plans didn't change much when he lost the early wicket. It wasn't a preconceived attack, but Raina is just an amazing talent and with him hitting the ball so cleanly, it took a lot of the pressure off me. I enjoy the challenge, I enjoy playing with these guys and we'd like to round off a successful six years with a good tournament here.

source: clt20.com