Chennai Super Kings

Rain helps Chennai

In what would have been a tight match, the Chennai Super Kings were lucky enough to easily gain two points thanks to the weather as a dust storm and subsequent showers cut down the match and Chennai won in the eighth over by three runs, thanks to Duckworth-Lewis method.

Sourav Ganguly won the toss and chose to bat on a placid wicket with good bounce, but failed to capitalize on a solid start. Ganguly himself fell to a horrendous shot while the middle order was cleaned up by Makhaya Ntini who took IPL’s third hat-trick. Only Salman Butt’s gritty 73 helped them to a respectable 149 in 20 overs.

In reply, the Chennai Super Kings made a cautious opening especially considering the threat of Knight Riders’ new ball bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Ishant Sharma. But caution was later thrown to the wind literally, as Stephen Fleming and Parthiv Patel notched up 55 in 8 overs. And then the rain came and it was so strong that even the covers were blown away.

With this loss, it has now become that more difficult for the Knight Riders to progress to the semi-finals, while it has become relatively easier for the Chennai Super Kings.

Tags: Chennai Super Kings, d/l, dhoni, duckworth-lewis, ganguly, IPL, ishant sharma, Kolkata Knight Riders, ntini, parthiv patel, shoaib akhtar, shoaid, stephen fleming