~~~CRICKET AROUND THE WORLD!~~~: 05/06/08

Chennai Super Kings v Deccan Chargers, IPL, Chennai

Deccan outplay insipid Chennai

May 6, 2008

Deccan Chargers 148 for 3 (Gilchrist 54, Styris 36*) beat Chennai Super Kings 144 for 7 (Raina 32, RP Singh 2-12) by seven wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Albie Morkel blasted 29 off 19 balls to take the Chennai Super Kings to 144 (file photo) © Getty Images

The Chennai Super Kings have plenty to ponder after losing to the Deccan Chargers by seven wickets, their third successive defeat. Their top order failed again and their total of 144 was easily overhauled by Deccan, inspired by a blazing 54 by stand-in captain Adam Gilchrist. Besides struggling to cope with the loss of their big-hitting overseas batsmen, Chennai's bowling, which has taken only seven wickets in the last three matches, is also a cause for concern.

Full report to follow

20 oversChennai Super Kings 144 for 7 (Raina 32, Morkel 29*, RP Singh 2-12)

Chennai are still struggling top cope with the absence of their big-name overseas players and after a third successive batting failure, they managed to post only 144. After Gilchrist, captaining Deccan in place of the injured VVS Laxman, sent Chennai in, his bowlers turned in an efficient performance to boost their hopes of a much-needed win.

Just as in the previous two matches, the first over saw the batsmen flounder against the moving ball. Parthiv Patel troubles with the bat continued as he survived a close lbw call first ball, dropped by the bowler P Vijaykumar off the fourth, before RP Singh took a fine running catch at fine leg to dismiss him sixth ball. S Anirudh, son of former Indian batsman Kris Srikkanth, fell soon after, miscueing a pull off RP.

Vijaykumar also troubled Stephen Fleming in his second over, angling the ball away from him and inducing an edge but Sanjay Bangar, at wide slip, couldn't hang on to a difficult chance. Fleming was just about getting into his groove when his rasping square drive off former New Zealand team-mate Scott Styris was smartly held by Rohit Sharma at cover point. And when S Badrinath was spectacularly held at backward point by Herschelle Gibbs in the seventh over, Chennai were at 43 for 4.

Suresh Raina, who was playing fluently when the wickets were tumbling, and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, were again called on rebuild the innings. There was some tidy, but not threatening, bowling from Sanjay Bangar, using the slower ball well, and left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha as Chennai progressed to 82 without any hiccups. Raina unleashed some lovely straight drives and Dhoni sensibly cut out the risks and kept the ball on the ground and were slowly getting their side back into the game.

However, both Raina and Dhoni were dismissed in the space of nine balls and Chennai were in danger of being bowled out for the second game in succession. Raina again failed to capitalise on his start, spooning a wide full toss from Bangar to Rohit at cover. Dhoni had been tied down by Ojha and perished when an attempted pull took a bottom edge and ballooned off his pads to Shahid Afridi at point.

As in his previous two knocks, Albie Morkel needed to try haul his team out of the hole created by top order's troubles. The crowd had been chanting "We want sixer, we want sixer" and there had been none till the 17th over when a monstrous hit from Morkel sent the ball out of the stadium. Four more sixes came off the last four overs, including two in the final one by Manpreet Gony as Chennai pushed their score to 145.

Despite the burst of runs towards the end, it was still a below-par score and the explosive Deccan batting will fancy their chances of overhauling it.

Twenty20 match

Indian Premier League - 26th match
Chennai Super Kings v Deccan Chargers

2007/08 season

Played at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai, on 6 May 2008 - day/night (20-over match)

Result Deccan Chargers won by 7 wickets (with 12 balls remaining)


Chennai Super Kings innings (20 overs maximum)			R	B	4s	6s	SR
	PA Patel	c Singh b Vijaykumar	4	6	1	0	66.66
	SP Fleming	c Sharma b Styris	14	16	2	0	87.50
	S Anirudha	c Shahid Afridi b Singh	1	7	0	0	14.28
	SK Raina	c Sharma b Bangar	32	21	5	0	152.38
	S Badrinath	c Gibbs b Shahid Afridi	0	4	0	0	0.00
	MS Dhoni	c Shahid Afridi b Ojha	23	31	2	0	74.19
	JA Morkel	not out	29	19	1	2	152.63
	Joginder Sharma	b Singh	16	10	1	1	160.00
	M Gony	not out	15	6	0	2	250.00
	Extras	(lb 6, w 4)	10

	Total	(7 wickets; 20 overs)	144	(7.20 runs per over)

Did not bat M Ntini, M Muralitharan

Fall of wickets1-4 (Patel, 0.6 ov), 2-15 (Anirudha, 3.3 ov), 3-33 (Fleming, 5.4 ov), 4-43 (Badrinath, 6.5 ov), 5-82 (Raina, 13.3 ov), 6-86 (Dhoni, 14.5 ov), 7-124 (Joginder Sharma, 18.4 ov)


Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
DP Vijaykumar	3	0	17	1	5.66
RP Singh	3	0	12	2	4.00	(2w)
SB Styris	3	0	24	1	8.00	(1w)
Shahid Afridi	3	0	27	1	9.00
SB Bangar	4	0	36	1	9.00
PP Ojha	4	0	22	1	5.50	(1w)


Deccan Chargers innings (target: 145 runs from 20 overs)			R	B	4s	6s	SR
	AC Gilchrist	c Badrinath b Morkel	54	36	7	2	150.00
	HH Gibbs	c & b Gony	10	10	1	1	100.00
	SB Styris	not out	36	41	3	1	87.80
	RG Sharma	c Badrinath b Muralitharan	23	17	2	1	135.29
	Shahid Afridi	not out	20	6	2	2	333.33
	Extras	(lb 1, w 2, nb 2)	5

	Total	(3 wickets; 18 overs)	148	(8.22 runs per over)