Bangalore: Suresh Raina blazed his way to a 43-ball 90 and powered Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to a comfortable 54-run win over Dolphins, here on Monday, keeping the Indian outfit’s semi-final prospects alive in the Oppo Champions League Twenty20.
The Super Kings notched up an imposing 242 for six and then saw off Dolphins’ early onslaught to bowl them out for 188 in 20 overs.
Chasing a stiff target, the Dolphins were cruising at 56 for two by the end of third over, and had crossed 100 by the end of ninth.
But the South African side could not sustain the tempo and lost their way after the initial promise.
Earlier, Raina was on the ball from the word go and his onslaught — during which he hit four boundaries and eight power-packed sixes — left the opposition blowers bruised and battered after Dolphins opted to field at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Mohit Sharma was CSK’s most successful bowler with impressive figures of four for 41. Needing a win to keep their semi-final prospects alive, two-time IPL champions CSK also got valuable support from Brendon McCullum, who hammered 49 off 29 balls, with the help of five fours and three sixes.
Ravindra Jadeja blazed his way to an unbeaten 40-run knock off a mere 14 balls, including 24 off the innings’ 17th over bowled by Kehsav Maharaj, as CSK finished with a huge total on board following the defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders in their opening game.
Raina and McCullum were involved in a 91-run stand for the second wicket, the runs coming in just 7.3 overs. CSK captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, though, was bowled for a first-ball duck.
In their chase, Cameron Delport and skipper Morne van Wyk plundered runs in the first couple of overs and looked in cruise mode. Delport smashed Ashish Nehra for 20 runs in the innings’ opening over, hitting the seamer for two fours and a six. Wyk then hit two fours and a six to score 16 runs.
Delport was in the thick of things again, picking up 20 runs off Sharma’s first over and the innings’ third, to take Dolphins past the 50-run mark.
But, after hitting a six and three fours, Delport was foxed by Sharma’s slower ball.
That was a big blow for the visiting side as the well-built batsman was looking set for a big one.
While Wyk was out for 17, Cody Chetty top-scored with 37 off 28 balls. While batting, what badly affected Dolphins was the lack of a single big partnership. Whereas the Super Kings had two — 91 and 65 for the second and third wickets respectively — the Dolphins had none with their best being 34, for both the first and third wicket.
