Chennai prevail in high-scoring affair

Following a thumping win against the Deccans, A confident Chennai captain MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat first. The were two changes in the Superkings team - George Bailey and Manpreet Gony replaced Murali Vijay and Jacob Oram. Punjab had one change in their eleven - VRV Singh came in for Ramesh Powar.

Chennai had a change in the batting line-up. With Murali Vijay not playing, Hayden was accompanied by Badrinath at the opening slot. However, the new combination did not work for Chennai when Badrinath tried to upper-cut an Irfan Pathan delivery but was caught by VRV Singh. Raina joined Hayden at number three and the duo started off a show of brilliant stroke-play. Though the conditions were overcast, it did not deter Raina and Hayden, who took an attacking approach and decimated the Punjab bowling. Chennai were 68/1 after 7.3 overs when the rain gods came to the help of Punjab by halting the play.

The play resumed after the rain delay with the match being reduced to 18 overs a side. Punjab got their first break-through after the delay when Raina attempted a pull off Chawla but could only find Goel latch on to a catch. The captain MS Dhoni once again promoted himself and came in at number four. He looked in good touch, timing the ball sweetly. Meanwhile, Matthew Hayden continued from where he left off and went on to score his fifty.

MS Dhoni opened up towards the end of the innings, scoring at an express rate. VRV Singh was at the receiving end when Dhoni scored 24 runs in his over which inculded 2 fours and 2 sixers. Hayden went one step further, scoring 3 sixers off Sreesanth in the penultimate over.

The duo brought on the 100 partnership off just 46 balls. However, Hayden departed in the same over, holing out to Jayawardene at long-in. The hard hitting Hayden managed to score 89 runs off just 58 balls. His innings included 8 fours and 6 sixers. Meanwhile, Dhoni reached his fifty with a four in the last over, taking just 24 balls to get there. Chennai ended the innings with a mammoth score of 185 on board. Dhoni remained unbeaten on 56 off just 27 balls. His innings included 7 fours and 2 sixers.

Punjab started the innings requiring 188 runs to win as per Duckworth and Lewis. Punjab's uphill task started off on a wrong note when Sunny Sohal was bowled by Morkel in the first over. Meanwhile, Simon Katich took charge, scoring at quick rate. Karan Goel gave him good company at the other end, playing for singles and rotating the strike. Simon Katich took the fight back to Chennai scoring 3 consecutive sixers off Gony. Karan Goel tried to emulate Katich by trying to hit Jakati over the top. However, he holed out to Gony at long-on, bringing Yuvraj Singh to the crease. The Kings XI captain started positively, dealing in boundaries and sixers. Not to be left behind, Katich played at a brisk pace and reached his fifty off just 24 balls. Just when things were looking good for Punjab, a loose ball from Balaji resulted in the dismissal of Katich. At this stage Punjab were 84/3 requiring 104 runs off 53 balls.

Yuvraj survived a chance in the 11th over when his attempted shot over long-on, off Muralitharan's bowling was put down by Gony. Meanwhile, an in-form Jayawardene was striking boundaries and sixers at will, taking the attack to his Sri Lankan counterpart, Muralitharan. Yuvraj Singh made Chennai pay for the dropped catch, decimating the Chennai bowling attack. With 3 overs remaining, Punjab required 39 runs to win. Leading from the front, Yuvraj Singh brought up his fifty in just 28 balls.

An exciting finish was in place when Punjab required 30 runs off the last two overs with Yuvraj and Jayawardene putting up the fight. Suresh Raina was given the ball for the penultimate over and he just gave away 6 runs. Punjab required 24 runs off the last over. Balaji, who was chosen to bowl the last over, kept his cool and bowled consistently in the block hole, giving away just 12 runs in the over. In the end, Chennai emerged victors by 12 runs.

In a closely fought encounter, Chennai held their cool and ultimately ended on the winning side thanks to the batting efforts of Hayden, Dhoni and Raina. Punjab gave Chennai a good fight but were not good enough at the end.