Kochi good, Chennai better - TeluguPeople.com News

CHENNAI: Wriddhiman Saha's unbeaten 46 and R Ashwin's economical bowling helped Chennai Super Kings beat Kochi Tuskers Kerala by 11 runs in the 64th IPL match under lights at Chepauk here on Wednesday. With this win, CSK topped the table and made it to the play-offs with still one match remaining.

Chasing 153 for win, Kochi could manage only 141 for 5 in 20 overs. They were in the hunt as long as Brendon McCullum was at the crease. McCullum's sweet innings came to an end when he was castled by a beauty from Shadab Jakati. Brad Hodge (51 n.o., 42b, 3x4, 2x6) tried to take the battle to the opposition, but met with limited success as the asking rate went up.

When the equation read 19 in six balls. Doug Bollinger bowled an excellent final over conceding only seven runs to fashion CSK's impressive win.

Earlier, blame it on complacency or overdose of the game, the CSK top order looked out of sorts . Each and every batsmen after scoring a couple of boundaries threw away their wicket to poor shot selection. Parthiv Patel's idea of shuffling bowlers paid rich dividends as CSK's top order succumbed to change of pace.

However, CSK made up for poor batting display with some good bowling and fielding.

Opting to bat, CSK began earnestly but lost the plot mid-way, as they could not forge a big partnership with wickets falling at regular intervals.

RP Singh and Shanthakumaran Sreesanth bowled their initial overs well. They pitched the ball in the right areas and did not give the width to play the shots. Murali Vijay and Mike Hussey could manage only singles in the first two overs and boundaries were hard to come by.

Vijay broke the shackles by hitting three boundaries off Rudra Pratap Singh. A straight drive in the 'V', an elegant flick and then a straight drive over the bowler's head in the long on area. But the final ball of the over saw RP Singh bowl an intelligent yorker for which Vijay had no answer and was castled. Suresh Raina enjoyed life before opening his account when Parthiv dropped him off Sreesanth.

However, he did not capitalise on the missed opportunity and got out in similar fashion to that of Vijay. He hit Sreesanth for a six, boundary and six off consecutive deliveries. The next one too was a wild swish, but this time Raina was not lucky, as RP Singh took a stunning catch in the deep as Sree could afford a smile.

A lot depended on in-form S Badrinath to do the rescue act. However, after hitting an effortless six off Hodge, Badri got out to the same bowler as. RP Singh took his second catch in the deep. From a spot of bother at 60 for 3, Hussey and Saha added 37 for the fourth wicket to put Super Kings back on track. Saha promoted ahead of MS Dhoni played an enterprising innings (46 n.o., 33b, 1x4, 3x6).

He also added 36 for the unfinished 6th wicket with Albie Morkel to help CSK post a respectable total.