The Indian Premier League!: Qualifier-1 Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians, Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi

QUALIFIER-1

CSK vs MI

Venue- Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, Delhi
Match Officials- N.Llong, R.Tucker, S.Ravi(Umpires), R.Mahanama(Refree)

Toss- CSK won the toss and chose to Bat first!

Result- CSK won by 48 runs!

Man Of The Match- MICHAEL HUSSEY

Match Report-

So after 72 matches, it was the time for the Play Offs. Four teams, Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad qualified for the play-offs. CSK and MI with 11 wins apiece were on the top of the table. It meant, they had 2 chances to go through for the finals. So the 1st qualifier to book one place in the final was played on 21st May in Delhi.

Both teams coming from a loss needed to win the match badly to go through the finals directly! Still Mumbai Indians were high on confidence as they had beaten CSK on both occasions in the league stage. Though DD were not playing, the stadium was jam-packed, supporting both the teams. CSK won the toss and chose to bat first in an all important encounter. Sachin Tendulkar was still not fit for this match. MI made 4 changes from their last game, bringing back Dwayne Smith, Johnson, Munaf Patel and Ojha... while on other side, CSK had only one change as they brought in the all-rounder Albie Morkel. Vijay and Hussey opened the bating, and gave CSK a good start. 6 overs of the powerplay were done and dusted when the scorecard read 47/0! After sharing 52 runs partnership Vijay was gone on 23(20), Pollard dismissed him. Then came Mr. Consistent in IPL to join Mr. Cricket in the middle. Bhajji and Ojha were bowling really well in the middle. After 9 overs, CSK were 69/1! Time-Out came in handy for CSK as they played some attacking shots after the timeout was finished. They started to score at a good pace as they were finding atleast one boundary every over. 15 overs later, the score was 123/1! In last 5 overs, CSK scored 67 runs. Both the batsmen remained not out till the end, as CSK finished the innings on 192/1 in 20 overs. It was a formidable total, considering it was a play-off match. Raina- 82(42) and Hussey-86(58) batted through the innings. MI bowlers looked all over the place on the flat track at the Feroz Shah Kotla.
Smith and Tare opened the batting for MI. Mohit Sharma conceded two boundaries in the first over, which was a good sign for MI that the ball was nicely coming on to the bat. But Tare looked in hurry as he gave a simple catch to Vijay in very next over of Albie Morkel. Smith was in the mood though. He played some fearless cricketing shots. He hit Mohit, Albie, Ashwin and Morris all over the park. After 6 overs MI were looking good at 56/1! Smith who brought up his 50 in the next over, continued his own way of bating for the next couple of overs as well. 86/1 after 8 overs, MI were certainly ahead of CSK at that point. 9th over which was bowled by Jadeja gave CSK the break-through that they needed. Smith-68(28) who tried to attack Jadeja was caught at point by Raina. Till then the other batsman Kartik wasn't finding middle of the bat at all. He and captain Rohit Sharma needed to carry on where Smith had left, but they never really got going. In 11th and 12th overs, Jadeja and Morris took wickets of Karthik and Rohit respectively, leaving MI in trouble 101/4 (12 overs). Pollard was at the crease, and MI needed him to fire, badly. MI needing 80 from 6 overs, Pollard hit Jadeja for 2 sixes on consecutive deliveries, keeping the hopes alive. But Dhoni's captaincy took the wicket of Pollard once again. The ball was fired on the legs of Pollard, he flicked it and Hussey took a good low catch on the edge of 30 yards circle, he was alone inside the circle there, place exactly where the ball went. Pollard- 24(16) was out! And that was it. MI didn't recover at all after that... The wickets just kept falling. Along with Jadeja, Bravo also took 3 wickets. Raina took a brilliant catch to dismiss Johnson. Apart from dropped catch by Dhoni, CSK were brilliant in the field. Morris and Bravo took brilliant catches in the end. MI were all out for 144, as CSK won the match by 48 runs and booked a ticket of the final.

My Views-

For MI the target was definitely achievable, but it needed some explosive batting from one end while someone to bat through from the other end. They must have missed Sachin. Or Smith should have looked to bat through rather than going after every ball. CSK bowlers bowled in right areas after a shaky start. Fielding was just brilliant.
After wining the toss and chosing to bat first, Vijay and Hussey got off to a good start. Giving Johnson a rest in the last match, was really wrong thing to do. If any bowler is in rhythm you shouldn't give him a rest and break his momentum. And it was a pressure game for Munaf Patel as he was playing after missing 13 matches. CSK made full use and scored heavily. Malinga bowled well but gave away plenty as CSK duo Hussey and Raina improvised well to get runs off Malinga! Michael Hussey was declared Man Of The Match. While he also got Orange Cap and Bravo got the purple cap.