BRAVO SURACE
Suresh Raina smashes 100 as Chennai defeat Kings XI
In a game of ifs and buts, Suresh Raina’s swashbuckling century — his first in the IPL after 91 games — ensured Chennai Super Kings won their seventh straight match of the season by 15 runs, against Kings XI Punjab here on Thursday. With Punjab’s scalp, M.S. Dhoni’s men equalled the IPL record held by RCB — set in 2011 — for the most of number of consecutive wins.
After posting an imposing 186/4, CSK had to counter a few anxious moments when David Miller and Shaun Marsh tore the bowlers apart to raise visions of an unlikely win. In a span of four balls — Marsh and Miller plundered 6,6,4,6 off Raina and R. Ashwin — the run chase became menacing after a quiet first 10 overs for Kings XI Punjab. The Miller-Marsh duo added a sparkling 95 in 50 balls.
A day where the bowlers had very little say, Dwayne Bravo castling Marsh (73 off 51balls) off the first ball of the final over closed the lid on Kings XI who still needed 19 for victory. Punjab managed only three runs as they lost two more wickets — Gurkeerat Singh and R. Sathish. Miller’s unbeaten 51 off 26 balls (5x4, 2x6) went in vain. Albie Morkel (4-0-20-0) and Mohit Sharma (4-0-31-2) bowled eight overs at one go with the new ball and stemmed the flow of runs at the top. Bravo made amends for his expensive three overs with an outstanding last over, which was undoubtedly the turning point of the game.
After CSK elected to bat, Raina provided a visual treat with an unbeaten 100 (53b, 7x4, 6x6). He caressed boundaries and smashed sixes with ease. An array of inside-out cover drives and uninhibited hitting down the ground with a high elbow off the pace bowlers were the highlights of his calculated assault. Raina celebrated his milestone, which was also CSK’s first ton of the season, with a pump of his fist.
After Wriddhiman Saha’s (18) early exit, Mike Hussey (35, 29 balls with three fours) supported Raina well and the pair added 55 runs in 44 balls to set a solid base. As Hussey looked set for a big one, he was outfoxed by a slightly wider delivery from Piyush Chawla to be stumped.
Stunned into disbelief was the Chennai crowd as Sathish ran out Dhoni for just two runs.
Morkel sent the ball soaring off Chawla only to be dropped by Mandeep Singh at mid-wicket when he was on seven. Though he was dismissed for 23, Mandeep’s generosity proved costly as the South African forged a scorching partnership of 74 in just 38 balls with Raina. Chennai Super Kings: Wriddhiman Saha c Shaun Marsh b Awana Parminder 18, Michael Hussey st Gurkeerat Singh b Piyush Chawla 35, Suresh Raina (not out) 100, M.S. Dhoni (run out) 2, Albie Morkel c David Miller b Parminder Awana 23, Ravindra Jadeja (not out) 5. Extras (lb 1, w 2) 3. Total (for four wickets in 20 overs) 186. b 1-27, 2-82, 3-92, 4-166. Bowling: Praveen Kumar 4-0-38-0, David Hussey 4-0-31-0, Parminder Awana 4-0-29-2, Piyush Chawla 4-0-32-1, Manpreet Gony 2-0-29-0, Sathish 2-0-26-0. Kings XI Punjab: Luke Pomersbach b Mohit Sharma 7, Mandeep Singh c Suresh Raina b Mohit Sharma 15, Shaun Marsh b Dwayne Bravo 73, David Hussey c Dwayne Bravo b R. Ashwin 22, David Miller (not out) 51, Gurkeerat Singh c Michael Hussey b Dwayne Bravo 0, R. Sathish lbw b Bravo 0, Manpreet Gony (not out) 0. Extras (lb 3) 3. Total (for six wickets in 20 overs) 171. FoW: 1-13, 2-36, 3-73, 4-168, 5-168, 6-171. Bowling: Albie Morkel 4-0-20-0, Mohit Sharma 4-0-31-2, R. Ashwin 4-0-33-1, Chris Morris 3-0-31-0, Suresh Raina 1-019-0, Bravo 4-0-34-3. Man of the Match: Suresh Raina