Kochi Tuskers Kerala beat Chennai Super Kings: IPL 4 - Match Recap and Analysis
Kochi Tuskers http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Kerala-c803 outshined the defending champions, Chennai Super Kings by beating them in a fabulous contest at the Nehru Stadium, Kochi, on 18th match of the fourth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Playing in front of the home crowd, Kochi managed to restrict the Super Kings to a mediocre total of 131 runs. However, considering the lack of depth in the Tuskers’ batting line-up even this total was enough to clinch a victory against the home side.
However, the Kochi Tuskers did not come out to chase without a plan as once again it was the skipper, Mahela Jayawardene who opened the innings with Brendon McCullum. Both batsmen, from the first over, wreaked havoc on the Chennai bowlers’ and keeping in mind the top notch bowling attack of their opposition, it worked out to be an effective strategy in a bid to shatter the opposition’s confidence.
The Chennai Super Kings’ captain, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ravichandran-Ashwin-c84208 in the attack soon after the fourth over. The gamble worked, as the boy with the golden arm took Jayawardene’s prized wicket on the third delivery, off his first over after getting clobbered for a six and then for a four in his first two deliveries. The batsman, however, was unable to time the ball and ended up giving an easy catch to Srikkanth Anirudha at short cover. Jayawardene made only 16 runs off 11 deliveries.
At this point, Dhoni knew that all he needed was another wicket and his team would wrap up the game sooner than expected.
Nonetheless, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 teammate, Tim Southee as he bowled for Chennai. Southee was seen completely awestruck as he faced McCullum’s fierce clobbering. The Tuskers inched closer to the tally needed to register their second back-to-back victory in the tournament. For a newbie in the IPL, Kochi sure showed a lot of guts while making minced meat of the defending champions.
It was only in the 11th over that Chennai finally managed to get rid of danger man, McCullum, as he gave a catch to Albie Morkel at long off on the third delivery of Ashwin’s over. After the over, Kochi was at a total of 92 runs for two wickets with still a long way to go. But being ahead of the required run rate, Kochi needed to play a composed game and not lose too many wickets in the coming overs.
Nevertheless, after just one over they lost another wicket, and this time the batsman to walk back to the pavilion was Patel, who gave a catch to Anirudha at deep mid-wicket off a delivery by Dough Bollinger. Patel scored 34 runs on 26 balls. His innings included four boundaries and one six.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ravindra-c84236 Jadeja were relentless in their pursuit as they took their team to a first home win in the 15th over of the match. This victory has shown that Kochi is not minnows, and although they may lack big names in their squad, they are still a side to reckon with.
McCullum was named the Man of the Match for playing a splendid knock of 47 runs for his team.
Earlier, after winning the toss Jayawardene put Dhoni’s XI into bat. But the match was interrupted by rain and was reduced to 17 overs. The moisture in the air helped Kochi bowlers early on as the much dangerous, Michael Hussey was caught behind by wicketkeeper, Patel, off a delivery by Kochi’s strike bowler Rudra http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pratap-Singh-c2209. Hussey scored just eight runs.
It was then http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Raiphi-Gomez-c2250 after playing an innings of 19 runs off 17 deliveries.
Skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MS-Dhoni-c2028 and Albie Morkel remained not-out on 14 and 9 runs at the end of the Chennai innings. In the post match speech, Dhoni blaming the rain for his team’s loss said, “The interruption did not help at all. The overs we lost were crucial. the big hitters were left in the dressing room. Credit to their batting. Brendon played very well, and the others as well. Not enough runs on the board."
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