CL T20: Chennai lift Champions League trophy

Reuters

Johannesburg, 27 September 2010: The Chennai Super Kings created history by winning the Champions League Twenty20 event, the first by any Indian side, after beating the Warriors by 8 wickets in the summit clash on Sunday. Murali Vijay (58 off 53) and Michael Hussey (51 not out off 46) chased down the 129-run target set by the opponents with an over remaining.

 

Though, Warriors’ bowlers created few jitters at the end of Chennai’s innings, but the home side was fighting a lost battle since the time their batters finished with a below-par score. Super Kings’ skipper MS Dhoni (17 not out off 12) provided the finishing touch as he hit a huge six and two fours in the penultimate over of Juan Theron.

 

Earlier, wickets, including the price scalp of skipper Davy Jacobs, at regular intervals derailed the once steady-looking Warriors’ innings as the home side struggled to put up a challenging total in the final. For the IPL champions, Chennai, the spin combination of R Ashwin and Muttiah Muralitharan proved a lethal weapon as the duo shared five wickets between them.

 

 

Even though, CSK knew what Davy Jacobs could do once he gets going, and that is what the Warriors’ skipper did, hitting a flurry of boundaries from the beginning. Jacobs took the attack straight away to the opposition, hitting two boundaries off Doug Bollinger in the very first over. The Warriors’ skipper followed it up with a spanking cover drive in the next over of Albie Morkel.

 

He further dented Chennai’s plans with four more boundaries in the subsequent overs. But Chennai got the breakthrough in the form of Ashwell Prince (6 off 9), who was castled by Bollinger.

 

Ashwin, who has been a revelation for the Chennai side in this tournament, provided the wicket of Jacobs (34 off 21) as soon as Dhoni brought him into the attack. The Warriors’ skipper misjudged the line of the off-spinner and was strapped in front of the wicket while trying a reverse sweep.

 

After Jacobs’ wicket, the tussle for survival started for the Warriors’ batsmen as they struggled to decode the spin of Aswhin and seam-up deliveries of L Balaji. The pressure did the trick for Chennai as Colin Ingram (16 off 23) lofted a full-length delivery of Morkel which was neatly taken by Suresh Raina while running backward.

 

Warriors would have expected a lot from Mark Boucher (5 off 11), but the seasoned wicket-keeper stuck in the web created by spin legend Muralitharan. Raina took the second blinder of the day as he dived in the mid-wicket region to sent Justin Kreusch (17 off 17) back to the dug out.

 

Craig Thyssen, with his big hitting, damaged the bowling figure of Balaji as the right-handed batsman hit two fours and a six off the medium pace bowler. He was foxed by Muralitharan and with that the Warriors innings finished with 128/7.

 

In reply, the Chennai openers made a solid start and once seeing off few early overs, both Vijay and Hussey started tearing Warriors’ bowlers apart with their free flowing play. While Vijay was the aggressive between the two, Hussey always kept the required run-rate under control and ensured a thumping win for his side.