IPL 6: Dhoni, Mohit rock Pune Warriors

Chennai Super Kings 164/3 (MS Dhoni 45* Raina 63*) beat Pune Warriors 127/9 (Mohit Sharma 3-21) by 37 runs.

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It seems Super Kings underestimated the Pune Warriors when they played them at Chennai as they made several changes to their playing XI. They however found the perfect combination in this season’s IPL and consequently, they have been relentless. Badrinath and Raina steadied the ship after Super Kings loss two early wickets. And Mohit Sharma’s timely wickets with new-ball led Chennai Super Kings comprehensive victory.

Suresh Raina was sloppy in the field as he gave away a boundary in the first over. But he inflicted a run-out and gave Super Kings a vital break-through as he got rid of the dangerous Uthappa. Aaron Finch looked in ominous touch as he struck two blistering boundaries in the second over, but he was removed by Mohit Sharma. Mohit Sharma soon followed up with the wicket of Suman as he trapped him plumb in front for nought.

Pune Warriors lost wickets regularly and were never able to boost the run-rate following the wicket of Yuvraj Singh in the fifth over. Yuvraj, Finch, Suman and Luke Wright did not make impact with the bat and left the job to Steve Smith. Steve Smith could have steered the Pune Warriors closer to the target, but he needed someone to hang around with him, and that did not happen.

Steve Smith and Richardson took the attack to the Super Kings spinners and raised the hopes of Pune Warriors. But Smith’s dismissal in the 14th over stymied Pune from stopping their consecutive losses streak in this season’s IPL. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Richardson and Rahul Sharma were dismissed cheaply at the end of the innings to hand the Chennai Super Kings a comprehensive victory.

Pune Warriors had their flaws exposed. They leaked 64 runs in the last five overs, which ended up becoming the difference between the two sides. But it was important for Super Kings to get to the score of 150-odd runs as the ball was skidding off the surface. They also had a perfect platform to take the aerial route. MS Dhoni got off the mark with a flick down to the fine-leg for a boundary and that was followed by a fabulous six over long-off.

Yet again, Dinda had an off-day with the ball especially in the death overs as he was getting clobbered by MS Dhoni over deep midwicket – his favourite spot. But he bowled a good last over apart from the six off the last ball by MS Dhoni that restricted the Super Kings under 170 runs. The platform was set for Dhoni by Raina and Badrinath. Badrinath came in at 26/2 after they lost Hussey and Saha in quick succession. The duo batted sensibly as they did not do more than what was required at that stage. Raina hit quite a few boundaries and sixes in the middle to up the ante. Badrinath rotated the strike. After the departure of Badrinath, it was Dhoni who exploded. And 164 was always a tough task especially against Chennai Super Kings.