Cricket: Chennai Super Kings Storm Into IPL Finals

The Chennai Super Kings have romped to a victory over the Kings XI Punjab by nine wickets to claim a place in the final of the inaugural Indian Premier League.

Chennai, who were made to field first by Yuvraj Singh, held Punjab to a very poor 112-8 at the end of 20overs. Dhoni gave the Punjab openers a shock as Muthiah Muralitharan bowled the first over of the match, a move which I feel contributed to James Hopes falling from the next over to Makhaya Ntini.

This was followed by a great deal of sportsmanship by Kumara Sangakarra who walked after being caught behind even though umpire Daryl Harper failed to hear a nick. Yuvraj Singh then fell after being brilliantly caught by Muralitharan at short mid-wicket.

The wickets just kept falling, as Shaun Marsh played across the line to Ntini and played-on to get bowled. Irfan Pathan ran himself out in a suicidal manner and Mahela Jayawardene got caught behind to leave Punjab high and dry at 45-6 after 10 overs with Manpreet Gony and Makhaya Ntini having done majority of the damage.

The lower order contributed more than the top order with Wilkin Mota and Romesh Powar taking Punjab to a paltry 112-8 at the end of 20 overs.

Chennai started off rather shakily after Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan got out to Irfan Pathan in the third over. However, some sensible batting by Parthiv Patel and some tremendous hitting from Suresh Raina meant that Chennai eased to a win with five overs to spare.

At the end of the game, Yuvraj Singh seemed to be dejected while his international captain for ODIs and T-20, MS Dhoni, was left to rejoice.

It was a thoroughly professional performance from the Super Kings and this win means that the final of the IPL will be between the Rajasthan Royals and the Chennai Super Kings tomorrow at the DY Patil Stadium in New Mumbai.

I cannot wait for the final. It is going to be a mouth-watering contest for sure.