Chennai Super Kings hold off Kolkata http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Knight-c71599 Riders by Two Runs
Tim Southee from the Chennai Super Kings came to his team’s rescue when Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) seemed well on their way to clinch their opening win by two runs in the fourth season of the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 Premier League (IPL).
With 153 runs to win, Kolkata seemed well-buckled in the driving seat as their top order batsmen toyed with the bowlers of Chennai Super Kings, led by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mahendra-Singh-Dhoni-c73820. However, New Zealand’s Tim Southee crashed the party by bowling superbly in the death
overs and restricting KKR batsmen to play freely. Southee squeezed the flow of runs, adding pressure on the KKR tail, eventually leading his team to a victory in the final over, when the KKR needed just 9 runs from the last over.
Southee, after giving away just two runs from the first delivery, took the wicket of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Laxmi-Ratan-Shukla-c72352 who was caught in the deep by fellow New Zealander, Scott Styris. Shukla had scored 14 runs off 10 deliveries.
Iqbal Abdullah was the next to come in. He scored two runs by playing a pull shot over midwicket. Needing five runs from three balls was always achievable, but Southee kept his cool and bowled a beautiful Yorker that Abdullah failed to score a run off. It
was now five runs on two deliveries. However, on the very next ball, the batsman managed to play another yorker grabbing a single off the delivery. KKR now needed four runs off the last delivery of the match.
At this moment the game could tip to any side. However, it was now all on the Southee's young shoulders to make or break the game for his team. The kiwi lived up to his skipper, Dhoni's expectations, and bowled a full delivery on the middle and leg, giving
a run off a leg bye, resulting in an unbelievable victory by the Chennai Super Kings.
This year seems to be a blessed one for Mahendra Singh Dhoni as just last week he became the first Indian captain after http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Kapil-Dev-c70234 to win the World Cup for his team, and now under his leadership the Chennai Super Kings have initiated their IPL campaign by
a remarkable victory in the first match of the franchise this season.
Earlier, from the Kolkata Knight Riders, it was South Africa’s prolific all-rounder, Jacques Kallis who led from the front by scoring 54 runs that actually set the tone for a close match that was to come in the later stage. From the Chennai Super Kings,
Srikkanth Anirudha was the top batsman as he scored 64 runs. He was bowled by Kallis.
Bollywood Star, Shahrukh http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Khan-c71319 who owns the KKR will have to wait for the next match for his team to register a win.
Tags: