CL T20 Match 20: Chennai Qualify for CL T20 Semis, Warriors Make it Through, Victoria Out

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Sreelata YellamrazuSep 23 2010

There was strange bits of play. Sometimes it appeared as if Chennai wanted it more and at other times, it was the turn of the Warriors. In the end, both prevailed and left Victoria Bushrangers out in the cold as far as the Champions League Twenty20 2010 semi finalists were concerned!

r ashwin for csk against wayamba

Chennai Super Kings needed to win the match to qualify. Warriors needed to at least lose by a close margin. And the agreement would have suited both because the one team that could not control the match was the Australian team.

Chennai got off to a good start with Michael Hussey playing a starring role with a half century, suitably aided by Murali Vijay who continued to wield the long handle of the bat. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the CSK captain, made thirty-one - the third best innings of the match - but the CSK had a strange end to their innings, as wickets tumbled in the scurry with Justin Kreusch picked up three wickets even as Johan Botha brought matters to a virtual standstill.

With 137 runs on board, it appeared Chennai had lost out on steam, particularly when one considers how well David Jacobs, the Warriors captain, has been going. And suitable to form, Jacobs' belligerence had Chennai under the heat. Ashwell Prince though was dismissed to a great catch at first slip by Justin Kemp off the bowling of Ravichandran Ashwin while Shadab Jakati, in for Laxmipathy Balaji, dismissed Jacobs.

With the score on three down for sixty-three when Colin Ingram was dismissed, the Warriors had their first wobble. And Chennai began to see hope. In that zone, Mark Boucher's innings of twenty-five with the help of Kreusch raised the hopes of the hosts once more as Warriors made it past the minimum qualifying mark of 109. Thereafter Boucher played straight down the throat of Kemp.

Then came more drama, as having got that far, the Warriors forgot to wield the long handle of the bat, unusual in a Twenty20 context, making life tough on themselves as they lost wickets even as the final over loomed with Warriors still needing fifteen runs. But by then, Chennai knew they had this one covered, winning the match by ten runs.

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