New Delhi: Chennai Super Kings breezed into the final of the IPL for a fourth straight time (fifth in total) with a thumping 48-run win over Mumbai Indians in the first qualifier on Tuesday.
Riding on pyrotechnics of Mike Hussey (86) and Suresh Raina (82), CSK posted a massive 192 for one and then did well to bowl out Mumbai Indians for 144 in 18.4 overs.
Mumbai Indians’ last nine wickets fell for 57 runs.
Mumbai will, however, get another chance to qualify for the final when they meet the winner of the second qualifier between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals.
The only time Chennai failed to make it to the title round was in the second edition held in South Africa, where they lost in the semifinals.
En route to their win, Hussey (732 runs) and Dwayne Bravo (28 wickets) also retained the ‘Orange’ and ‘Purple’ caps, respectively.
Dwayne Smith’s big-hitting prowess is well documented and while chasing a target of 193, one needed to be aggressive from the word go. He hit a blazing 28-ball 68 but after his fall, Mumbai lost wickets in heap.
Smith took full advantage of the field restrictions as he played the lofted shot to good effect.
Whether it was rookie Mohit Sharma or South African Chris Morris, Smith deposited all of them in the stands as MI started scoring at a rate of more than 10 per over.
Aditya Tare’s dismissal couldn’t deter Smith as rival skipper MS Dhoni saw his bowlers being clobbered.
Smith reached 50 off 21 balls and Ravichandran Ashwin was then brought into the attack.
Smith hit him for a straight six into the sight-screen and followed it with a four. Such was Smith’s dominance that in a partnership of 75 runs with Dinesh Karthik, the latter contributed only nine.
The introduction of Ravindra Jadeja (3/31) turned out to be the masterstroke. Smith misread the length of a ball; his mistimed shot ballooned up and Raina completed the formalities.
Jadeja then bowled an arm ball which caught Karthik plumb in-front trying a sweep shot. Skipper Rohit Sharma was then holed out in the deep off Morris and MI slumped to 101 for four from a relatively strong 87 for one.
Kieron Pollard did hit a couple big sixes off Jadeja but gave a simple catch to short fine leg fielder inside the circle trying to flick one.
With Pollard back in the dug-out, victory was out of question.
Bravo (3/9) and Mohit Sharma (2/32) then polished off the tail without much difficulty.
Earlier Hussey and Raina took the Mumbai Indians attack to the cleaners.
Hussey delighted the sell-out crowd with his amazing array of strokes as he scored an unbeaten 86 off 58 balls with the help of 10 fours and two sixes.
He was ably complemented by the ever-dependable Suresh Raina, who smashed his way to a breathtaking 42-ball-82 that had five fours and an equal number of huge sixes.
The duo put on 140 runs for the second wicket in 12.4 overs. (PTI)