Central Stags chase went awry as Chennai Super Kings cruised to a 57 runs victory on a lively Durban pitch.
View ScoreCardEarlier, a superb exhibition of counter attacking batting from Subramaniam Badrinath and Srikkanth Anirudha helped Chennai Super Kings recover from a disastrous start and post a competitive 151 for four in their Champions League Twenty20 match against the Central Stags on Saturday.
CSK were reeling at five for two in the second over after opener Matthew Hayden (0) and Suresh Raina (4) were out early before Badrinath (52 not out) and Anirudha (42) took their side past 150 after electing to bat.
The duo shared 73 runs from 49 balls for the fourth wicket with some well-struck fours and sixes on a spongy Kingsmead pitch which saw odd balls kicking up to trouble the batsmen.
Badrinath's unbeaten 52 came from 42 balls with the help of four fours and two sixes while Anirudha hit five fours and as six in his 29-ball innings.
Both Hayden, who fell in the first ball he faced in the opening over, and Raina, who followed suit after four balls, were done in by deliveries which had extra bounce.
Hayden top-edged a Michael Mason delivery to deep square leg fielder Peter Ingram. Raina failed to negotiate a rising ball from 18-year-old pacer Adam Milne and it kissed the batsman's gloves before landing at the hands of second slip fielder Brendon Diamanti.
The early jolt meant that CSK had to dig deep and Badrinath and Murli Vijay (19) did just that. They ran in singles and doubles to keep the scoreboard ticking under some fine bowling display by the New Zealand champion side.
Yet again, extra bounce on the pitch claimed Vijay as he tamely hung outside the off to a Dough Bracewell delivery for Mathew Sinclair to take a high catch off the edge.
Albie Morkel produced the late fireworks with a 15-ball unbeaten 26 which had a four and two sixes.
Central Stags batsmen failed to put a decent partnership and were bundled out for 94 runs in 18.1 overs.
Bracewell hit a brisk 30 but the with the top order reduced to 36 for five the match their was little chance of recovery.
Young Bracewell was also the most successful bowler with two for 28 while Mason and Milne took a wicket apiece.
Teams:
Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Murali Vijay, Matthew Hayden, Suresh Raina, Subramaniam Badrinath, MS Dhoni(w/c), Albie Morkel, Srikkanth Anirudha, Doug Bollinger, Ravichandran Ashwin, Muttiah Muralitharan, Lakshmipathy Balaji
Central Stags (Playing XI): Jamie How(c), Peter Ingram, George Worker, Mathew Sinclair, Bevan Griggs(w), Brendon Diamanti, Kieran Noema-Barnett, Doug Bracewell, Adam Milne, Mitchell McClenaghan, Michael Mason
Content courtesy of: espnstar.com
