Aaron Finch and Bhuvneshwar Kumar engineer 24-run win over
Chennai Super Kings.
CHENNAI: The side with the poorest recent record in IPL
pulled off what is generally considered to be the competition’s toughest
assignment: a victory over Chennai Super Kings at Chepauk.
Pune Warriors, without Yuvraj Singh and captain Angelo
Mathews, managed precisely that on Monday night by a margin of 24 runs. The visit
side first posted 159 through bursts at the top and bottom of the order and
then restricted Chennai to 135/8 in the pursue, as Bhuvneshwar Kumar came up
with a stand out performance with the new ball.
The young Indian seamer return figures of 4-1-12-2, the
scalps coming early in Chennai’s chase. Pune had earlier been served well by
opener Aaron Finch’s 45-ball 67 and Steven Smith, who returned to the team and
contributed a quickfire 39 and three smart catch in the deep.
Bad start
Chennai’s pursuit started most ominously. S. Anirudha – in
the side for Mohit Sharma – was trapped in front by a now expected Bhuvneshwar
in-swinger second ball. The home team would have plumbed deeper into distress
were Vijay not drop by Tirumalasetti Suman off Ashok Dinda in the second over,
a straight-forward chance at mid-on off a savage pull.
Vijay (24) went on to strike a couple of scary blow off
pacer Mitchell Marsh, but just when he was looking to ease into a groove a
top-edge against Abhishek Nayar’s military medium claimed him at extra
cover. That IPL behemonth Suresh Raina
had, a little earlier, turn out to be Bhuvneshwar’s second victim - thanks to a
mis-time to mid-on, located Chennai in somewhat of a soup at 40/3 inside of
seven overs.
Regular wickets
Renowned escape artiste Ravindra Jadeja (27) and the reliable
Subramaniam Badrinath (34) took things ahead.
The latter was crisp as he pulled and steered Nayar and flicked Dinda
for four. But Badri’s first and only moment of uneasiness cost him his wicket:
a slice high to Smith at long-off.
Having carted leggie Rahul Sharma for six, Jadeja frittered absent
a solid platform by guiding Marsh into the hands of short fine-leg. Sixty-one
were necessary off the last five overs when Ms Dhoni struck Dinda hard and low
to Smith at long-off, signal the end of the chase.
Finch fires
Opener Aaron Finch’s 45-ball 67 stirred belongings up nicely
to start with as the visitors, after choosing to bat at Chepauk, rode on a racy
opening company. Finch claimed three boundaries in Dirk Nannes’ first over and
seemed to deal exclusively in that mode of run-gathering, as his first 32
contained seven hits to the fence. Pune reached 48 without defeat in the
Powerplay, with Robin Uthappa (26) playing the holding roll.
Finch smoked sixes off spinners R. Ashwin and Jadeja and
brought up his half-century in 32 deliveries, before he was confused to the latter.
Uthappa followed suit, holing out to South Africa all-rounder Chris Morris in
an attempted correction of his dismal score rate.
Pune lost two more quickly. Morris got rid of Ross Taylor
and Mitchell Marsh was taken in the deep off Bravo. Smith then came in for his
first game of the season. The Aussiesmashed an unbeaten 39 in 16 balls,
including strong sixes off the seamers Nannes, Bravo and Morris. Smith’s charge
pressed Pune to 159, a total they defended admirably by chip away regularly at
Chennai ‘s vaunted batting line-up.
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