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Mumbai - Mahendra Singh Dhoni made a mockery of the Punjab Kings XI death bowling as he led the Chennai Super Kings to a six-wicket victory with two balls remaining in their Indian Premier League match at Dharamsala on Sunday.
The thrilling win assures the Super Kings of a semi-final place and captain Dhoni, one of the biggest names in world cricket, played the leading role as he smashed 54 not out off 29 balls.
The wicketkeeper/batsman's big match temperament was proven once again as Chennai needed 16 runs off the last over to win and Dhoni hit Irfan Pathan for four, two and then two successive sixes to clinch the victory.
A determined Dhoni also lashed five fours as he ensured there was no repeat of the Super Kings' costly late collapse against the Kings XI in their earlier meeting.
Albie Morkel was with Dhoni at the end, facing eight balls and hitting two fours as he finished on 14 not out.
Chennai, chasing 193, were in early trouble as off-spinner Ramesh Powar removed Murali Vijay (13) and Matthew Hayden (5), stumped and caught respectively by a sharp Kumar Sangakkara.
But a partnership of 62 in 5.4 overs between Suresh Raina (46 off 27) and Subramaniam Badrinath (53 off 36) went a long way towards setting up the Chennai victory.
Raina was in sublime form, stroking five fours and three sixes before driving Rusty Theron with excellent timing but straight to the man right on the cover boundary.
The batting of Badrinath was also elegant, his driving being of the highest quality, before he was stumped off Piyush Chawla, the leg-spinner having been denied the wicket of the solid right-hander when umpire Amiesh Saheba turned down a good lbw appeal on 27.
The wicket of Raina was Theron's highlight as he felt the full brunt of Dhoni's batting at the end, conceding 43 runs in his four overs.
Earlier, Shaun Marsh scored 88 not out off 57 balls to steer the Punjab Kings XI to a commanding 192 for three.
Opener Marsh batted through the innings in a sensible knock that saw the Kings XI through some tricky moments as they slipped to 93 for three in the 12th over.
Left-hander Pathan was called into service at the end of the innings to finish in style and he blasted 44 not out off 27 balls with four fours and a six.
Marsh hit two sixes in a penultimate over that cost 19 runs, left-arm fast bowler Doug Bollinger having the misfortune of also seeing Pathan dropped on 23.
Pathan then ripped into Morkel in the final over, which cost 16 runs.
Mahela Jayawardena hit 21 off eight balls as Punjab roared to 34 for one in the first three overs, but the home side were frustrated by the loss of both Sri Lankans - Jayawardena to a fine leaping catch at deep mid-off by Sudeep Tyagi off Morkel - and Sangakkara (33) when both were well set.
Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was the best of the Chennai bowlers, taking one for 20 in four overs.
Morkel took one for 48 and Justin Kemp conceded 12 runs in the one over he bowled.
Teams:
Kings XI Punjab:
SE Marsh, DPMD Jayawardene, KC Sangakkara (capt & wk), Yuvraj Singh, K Goel, IK Pathan, J Theron, RR Powar, PP Chawla, S Sohal, VRV Singh
Chennai Super Kings:
ML Hayden, M Vijay, SK Raina, MS Dhoni (capt), JA Morkel, JM Kemp, S Badrinath, R Ashwin, SB Jakati, DE Bollinger, S Tyagi
The thrilling win assures the Super Kings of a semi-final place and captain Dhoni, one of the biggest names in world cricket, played the leading role as he smashed 54 not out off 29 balls.
The wicketkeeper/batsman's big match temperament was proven once again as Chennai needed 16 runs off the last over to win and Dhoni hit Irfan Pathan for four, two and then two successive sixes to clinch the victory.
A determined Dhoni also lashed five fours as he ensured there was no repeat of the Super Kings' costly late collapse against the Kings XI in their earlier meeting.
Albie Morkel was with Dhoni at the end, facing eight balls and hitting two fours as he finished on 14 not out.
Chennai, chasing 193, were in early trouble as off-spinner Ramesh Powar removed Murali Vijay (13) and Matthew Hayden (5), stumped and caught respectively by a sharp Kumar Sangakkara.
But a partnership of 62 in 5.4 overs between Suresh Raina (46 off 27) and Subramaniam Badrinath (53 off 36) went a long way towards setting up the Chennai victory.
Raina was in sublime form, stroking five fours and three sixes before driving Rusty Theron with excellent timing but straight to the man right on the cover boundary.
The batting of Badrinath was also elegant, his driving being of the highest quality, before he was stumped off Piyush Chawla, the leg-spinner having been denied the wicket of the solid right-hander when umpire Amiesh Saheba turned down a good lbw appeal on 27.
The wicket of Raina was Theron's highlight as he felt the full brunt of Dhoni's batting at the end, conceding 43 runs in his four overs.
Earlier, Shaun Marsh scored 88 not out off 57 balls to steer the Punjab Kings XI to a commanding 192 for three.
Opener Marsh batted through the innings in a sensible knock that saw the Kings XI through some tricky moments as they slipped to 93 for three in the 12th over.
Left-hander Pathan was called into service at the end of the innings to finish in style and he blasted 44 not out off 27 balls with four fours and a six.
Marsh hit two sixes in a penultimate over that cost 19 runs, left-arm fast bowler Doug Bollinger having the misfortune of also seeing Pathan dropped on 23.
Pathan then ripped into Morkel in the final over, which cost 16 runs.
Mahela Jayawardena hit 21 off eight balls as Punjab roared to 34 for one in the first three overs, but the home side were frustrated by the loss of both Sri Lankans - Jayawardena to a fine leaping catch at deep mid-off by Sudeep Tyagi off Morkel - and Sangakkara (33) when both were well set.
Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was the best of the Chennai bowlers, taking one for 20 in four overs.
Morkel took one for 48 and Justin Kemp conceded 12 runs in the one over he bowled.
Teams:
Kings XI Punjab:
SE Marsh, DPMD Jayawardene, KC Sangakkara (capt & wk), Yuvraj Singh, K Goel, IK Pathan, J Theron, RR Powar, PP Chawla, S Sohal, VRV Singh
Chennai Super Kings:
ML Hayden, M Vijay, SK Raina, MS Dhoni (capt), JA Morkel, JM Kemp, S Badrinath, R Ashwin, SB Jakati, DE Bollinger, S Tyagi
