Chennai hold nerve in tight finish

CHENNAI: Chennai hold nerve in a close tie against Pune at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai. Pune does not start well their chase of 165 runs losing two of their prominent players for just 26 runs on the board.

But with equal contribution from almost all of the middle order at one stage Pune was looking to achieve the target with 25 runs required in last two overs. But, the sensible bowling of Bollinger and Bravo won the match for Chennai with 13 runs.

Earlier in the day Pune won the toss and asked Chennai to bat first. Chennai started very well with both openers smashing fifties. They added 116 runs for the first wicket. After that due to some hard hitting from Dhoni a competitive target of 165 runs was set by Chennai.

Chennai Super Kings 164 for 5 (du Plessis 58, Badrinath 57, Samuels 3-39)
Pune Warriors 151 for 7 (Mathews 27, Kulasekara 2-10)

Dhoni: The dew was an issue, the spinners weren’t getting too much turn, glad the fielding was good, took some good catches. We have been playing here last five years so we don’t worry about the heat too much.

Ganguly: Shoulder’s alright, landed on my chest actually. MS batted well towards the end, we needed a big over to get on par but did not get. We will have a look at what went wrong after the game.

Kulasekara is the man of the match, good to win the game, the batsmen and bowlers did a good job. I try my best to swing the new ball and that is what helped me get the early wickets.