CL T20 Semifinal 1: Chennai Trash Royal Challengers by 52 Runs; Raina Stars; Steyn Hurt

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Sreelata YellamrazuSep 25 2010

It was an unusual match in unusual circumstances. A delayed affair, a tense contest, was broken by the sheer clinical approach of the Chennai Super Kings who exploited the conditions and the situation magnificently to enter the Champions League Twenty20 Final on Sunday.

chennai super kings celebrate in semi final cl t20

The Royal Challengers Bangalore started the contest with their nose ahead not only because of the foreign imports in their line up but also, because they boasted of a better bowling line up. That, however, changed as the night progressed.

The match was delayed for over two and a half hours with rain and by the time the match eventually started, Indian fans would not be blamed for laying down to rest. However, for those that did stay up, it was a thrilling affair to watch as CSK took command over the match, perhaps even more so once Dale Steyn was rendered injured.

Steyn injured himself taking the catch of Michael Hussey, at a critical time that the RCB captain, Anil Kumble, stated he would have liked the South African fast bowler to come into the attack with Chennai batting first.

Rendered a bowler less, Kumble was forced to call upon the resources of Cameron White, who has been rusty because of want of use. And the balance appeared to have tilted. For Chennai, Suresh Raina has been rather silent in the tournament and he used the opportunity of the semi final, to stamp his authority with the bat.

Runs flowed, without the deliberate help of RCB, and Kumble was livid at the state of affairs and not amused by being dictated terms to. Between Murali Vijay and Raina came the bulk of the runs, their first wicket partnership yielding eight-one runs. Vijay scored forty-one of those runs while Raina kept tearing into the defensive RCB bowling with five fours and six sixes in an unbeaten knock of ninety-four as Chennai touched 174.

Steyn's loss and Virat Kohli's injury seemed to have put the RCB in a concerned mood and the angst of having such a large total to score in a difficult situation in such a pressure situation worked against them.

Chennai brought in Albie Morkel for Justin Kemp and it was a night, Morkel could do no wrong with the ball. Although Doug Bollinger has three wickets to his name, it was Albie who set up the game in such a fashion that RCB were always chasing more than the actual total. His first two overs alone yielded ten dot balls while opening the bowling, with the RCB batsmen forced to contend with with the swing and bounce that the two bowlers were extracting at the livened up Kingsmead, Durban.

The RCB woes became only too apparent once the batsmen tried desperately to gain momentum, their miscued shots become facile catches for the waiting Chennai team. Manish Pandey stood out on the end tally like the odd man out, with a half century to his name, but sadly there would be no partnering him in this vain cause that was virtually determined by the time RCB lost five for sixty-seven by the end of the eleventh over.

For Chennai, this would be as clinical as they would ever be in the tournament, winning the match by fifty-two runs.

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