Indian Premier League Defending champions Chennai score impressive win over Pune
CSK 142/6 20 overs PW 117/9 20 overs
Defending champions, Chennai Super Kings, scored an impressive win over new comers Pune Warriors to regain their spot amongst the top teams in the on-going season of the Indian Premier League.
The hosts were indebted to a flying opening stand between http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Murali-Vijay-c78035 and Michael Hussey, which yielded 64 runs and gave them the momentum to build a useful total. Vijay scored 31 off 29 balls, while Hussey hammered a 48 ball 61 to ensure that the hosts
pile on a decent total on a relatively taxing batting track at Chennai.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MS-Dhoni-c2028 with 26 off 21 balls also played an important role for the hosts towards the end of the innings. However, the Super Kings failed to make the most of their fluent start and mustered at best a par score of 142 in the allotted overs.
West Indian quick, Jerome http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Alfonso-Thomas-c991 chipped in with 2 wickets to restrict the hosts.
The reply by the Warriors was a shoddy one. The top four batsmen were back in the pavilion with the score board reading a patchy 40 in 5.3 overs.
Skipper and man of the tournament in the World Cup, Yuvraj Singh, and, Mithun Manhas, tried their best to revive the fortunes of their team. However, the mounting run rate provided a tough challenge for them that the talented bunch failed to counter.
Yuvraj fell for 34 while Manhas perished after making 20 off 23 balls, Nathan McCullum chipped in with 15 runs, yet it was too little too late for the Warriors, who fell short by 25 runs and handed the Super Kings an important win at this stage of the tournament.
The opening bowlers for Super Kings, Albei Morkel, and, Doug Bollinger, shared 5 wickets between them and pushed the Warriors right out of the contest.
Hussey was named man of the match for his half century, which was the top score of the match and an immensely critical one for the winners.
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