A fearsome attack led by Ravi Rampaul set Trinidad & Tobago's Champions League campaign off on a triumphant note, as they comfortably defended 135 for 9, against Brisbane Heat in Ranchi. An intense Rampaul was both economical and penetrative throughout his spells in the innings, and although Heat may have been pleased to chase so few, they were rarely granted more than a brief glimpse of victory during the chase. Rampaul finished with four wickets for 14 from 3.4 overs, with Sunil Narine, Rayad Emrit and Samuel Badree also contributing fine spells.
Denesh Ramdin played something of a lone hand to give his attack a reasonable target to defend, as he hit 48 from 38 after Heat had sent T&T in to bat. No other batsman breached 20 for T&T, as Heat's quick bowlers enjoyed the bounce in the Ranchi strip, as well as the slight movement early on.
Rampaul found swing early on, but it was his impeccable line that set the tone for T&T's bowling effort. Often pitching short of length, Rampaul cramped the Heat's openers for space, and soon dismissed captain James Hopes, who played on coming forward in the third over.
Rampaul's first spell lasted only two overs, but the rest of the bowlers matched his discipline. Heat had only lost one wicket at the end of the Powerplay, but could not manage a run rate better than 3.66. Subsequent attempts to reel in the required run rate were often short-lived, and retarded by dismissals. Only Joe Burns had the measure of the attack, but even he could not achieve a laudable strike rate. When Rampaul returned in the 16th over to break Burns' leg stump, the batsman had hit 45 from 43.
Ben Cutting's 17 from 10 only hinted at a revival for Heat and his run out, at the end of the 18th over, secured the match for T&T. Rampaul's last over yielded the two final wickets, as Heat were dismissed for 110 with eight balls still remaining.
Seventeen balls into T&T's innings, openers Lendl Simmons and Evin Lewis had promised a profitable first stand, but their confident blows to the square fence soon gave way to tame batting errors, and No. 5 batsman Ramdin was at the crease sooner than he would have liked - after 4.4 overs. A four off an inside edge got Ramdin under way, but he found the middle of the bat almost immediately, as he guided a wide delivery from Kemar Roach over the slips for four.
Ramdin's progress steadied after those boundaries, as he rebuilt the innings from 38 for 3.
He ventured an advancing six off Nathan Hauritz in the ninth over but, as wickets continued to tumble at the other end, Ramdin was content to deal in singles and twos. Jason Mohammed and Sherwin Ganga departed off consecutive deliveries, and 17-year-old Nicolas Pooran managed only 8 off 16 balls in his Champions League debut.
At 83 for 6 after 14 overs, Ramdin's hopes of setting a total close to 150 had grown slim, but he slogged a four and a six off Cutting in the next over to help inject some urgency into a stagnating innings. Ramdin was out not long after, but Samuel Badree, coming in at No. 10, engaged a previous avatar as a batsman and took T&T beyond 130 by striking two straight sixes in the 16-run final over.
Chennai Super Kings 187 for 6 (Hussey 47, Raina 47) beat Titans 185 for 5 (De Villiers 77, Davids 52) by 4 wickets
Chennai Super Kings did what they set out to do, successfully chasing down a big total after putting Titans in to bat. They made it look easier than it was, certainly when Suresh Raina and Michael Hussey were at the crease. Dwayne Bravo batted breezily as well, ensuring the four-wicket win with seven balls to spare.
Super Kings had to recover from a bad start in pursuit of 186, after M Vijay was bowled by Roelof van der Merwe in the opening over of the chase. The South African side held the momentum at that stage, having already put up an impressive score courtesy of AB de Villiers' brutal innings of 77 and plenty of wayward bowling.
But the Titans' bowlers were more wayward, giving Raina and Hussey the freedom to settle themselves. The two batsmen also had to contend with a 10-minute break due to light failure after the first wicket fell. But once Rowan Richards, Morne Morkel and Marchant de Lange gave away 13, 24 and 14 respectively off the third, fourth and fifth over, it eased the run-rate pressure considerably.
The pair added 89 for the second wicket at over 12 an over before Raina fell to David Wiese in the eighth over. He made 47 off 28 balls with two sixes and five fours, having peppered the open field on the leg-side.
Hussey stayed on for a bit more, but also fell three short of his fifty, in the tenth over. His 47 came off 26 balls, with seven fours and a six. Similar to Raina, his dismissal too was a soft one as Super Kings looked to the next pair to finish the job.
Bravo and S Badrinath added 58 for the fourth wicket, with the West Indies allrounder bringing out his famous lofted shots on the off-side - he struck two inside-out sixes over cover. He fell, and was followed by Dhoni and Jadeja too, but Albie Morkel eased any nerves by picking up the winning runs in the 19th over.
Richards, the left-arm fast bowler, took three wickets, but it came too late for Titans to force the issue.
AB de Villiers was Titans' star with the bat. He was eventually dismissed in the penultimate over, but not before he had satiated himself with seven sixes and three fours in a 36-ball 77. There was hardly a mis-hit from his bat, and the sound it made for two off his sixes over midwicket was scrumptious.
He ran hard during the 76-run second wicket stand with his captain Henry Davids, who himself got 52 off 43 balls. Davids struck two sixes, one each off Jason Holder and R Ashwin. Their partnership also came at a superb rate, 12.32, with de Villiers contributing 43 runs. His fifty came off just 27 balls and his innings bloated Titan's total, with expensive overs in the middle-period: 14, 14, 17 and 18 came off the 11th, 12th, 13th and 19th overs.
But Dwayne Bravo pulled things back with two wickets in the 18th over and next over, when he took the skier offered by de Villiers off Ravindra Jadeja. Jadeja might have got the big wicket, but it was a truly forgettable day for him: apart from being spanked for 49 runs in three overs, he picked up a two-ball duck. Hussey and Raina, though, made sure his off day didn't cost Super Kings.
No comments:
Post a Comment