Brendon McCullum, Suresh Raina, Faf du Plessis and Ravindra Jadeja came one after another and launched assaults on the Dolphins from the word go in Bangalore. They brought the house down with their powerful hits and blistering innings, as the yellow brigade post a mammoth 243-run target in a must-win tie of the Champions League T20.
It was always going to be Kanchenjunga, Kangto and Everest to climb at once for the Dolphins and they succumbed to a 54-run defeat, despite making a blistering start. Dolphins started brightly with skipper Morne van Wyk (17) and Cameron Delport but the former was unfortunate to be adjourned lbw of Ravichandran Ashwin.
Delport, however, continued to hammer Indian bowlers and scored an eight-ball 34. His cameo came to an end, when pacer Mohit Sharma undone him on a slow ball. After the departure of Delport, the Dolphins, despite getting run rate under control owing to early boundaries, failed to pull off a stunning win over the former champions.
The target always looked out of reach, despite a number of decent cameos by the Africans, as in a bid to up the ante they lost wickets on regular intervals. CSK was a better side on the field and skipper Dhoni marshalled his bowlers pretty well.
Dwayne Bravo was the pick of the bowlers with two wickets and was also quite economical. Mohit Sharma picked three wickets, while Ashish Nehra took two and Ashwin finished with one to bundle Dolphins for 188 in 20 overs.
Earlier, put into bat on a flat Chinnaswamy Stadium pitch, the Super Kings were rocked early, when they lost opener Dwayne Smith (7) in the first over. The joy for Dolphins, however, was short lived as McCullum and Raina stitched a 91-run partnership for the second wicket. They made a mockery of the Dolphins’ attack and scored boundaries at will.
When McCullum (49) got out, du Plessis joined forced with Raina and started hammering the South Africans and made a 65-run partnership for the third wicket. Raina, in particular, was at his dazzling best and timed the ball pretty well. He showed his trademark strokes and hit an effort-less looking six over the covers.
He, however, fell short of a scorching hundred but entertained the crowd present at the stadium. CSK, meanwhile, lost few quick wickets but the storm was yet to arrive. When MS Dhoni (0) fell, Ravindra Jadeja came to the crease and was in the league on his own by starting with back-to-back sixes.
There was no stopping for Jadeja as the southpaw hit three massive sixes and three boundaries. He made an unbeaten 14-ball 40 and was instrumental in powering his side close to 150-run mark. Jadeja made a couple of partnerships with du Plessis (30) and Ashwin (4 not out) to help the Super Kings match Champions League highest total.
