PW vs CSK Match 31 Review IPL4

April 27th Mumbai

Pune Warriors lost a lone battle waged by Yuvraj Singh as Chennai Super Kings eased past them with a remarkable knock off unbeaten 63. CSK registered a 8 wicket win with 3 balls to spare. in home of PW, Navi Mumbai. This is their 4 th win in this IPL4 season overall and must have made Dhoni happy as it was first one in away venues finally in 31s match of IPL.

Chasing a small total of 142 to win, CSK never really looked in trouble with an inform Badrinath who scored 63 out of just 44. Suresh Raina avoided any tense moments out of the chase as he chipped in with a important 34 not out . Their 65 run partnership for third wicket came of just 47 balls. This was Chennai’s consecutive win over Pune but this time it was the much needed away win. For Pune its 4th loss in a line. Chennai played with Kulasekhara as replacement for injured Albie morkel

Yuvraj who struggled in last match came back in touch and waged a lone battle against the CSK bowling line-up. Though made 62 of just 43 balls the hosts could only reach a total of 141/6 as their batsman failed to pickup Morkel and Bollinger. Baring Yuvraj and to an extent Robin Uthappa (31) none of them really looked with that confidence of playing a big innings. Hosts were down with 41 /  4 at a point of time and were revived by some clean hitting by the Yuvraj Singh.

The left hander found first stable partner in Robin Uthappa 31(22), made 42 runs for 5th wicket with him.  He followed  with a crucial partnership of 40 with Mitchell Marsh (11) to take the score board to 140. Bollinger was the dangerous customer from Chennai who finished with impressive figures of 3/21. His double wicket maiden over was a death blow to Pune’s top order batting. Tim Southee and R Ashwin got 1 wicket each as they played their part in the win once again aas they did in last match with Pune.

Choosing to bat first, Pune’s Ryder looked aggressive, hitting Kulasekera for 3 fours in a row after scoring slow in initial 2 overs. But Bollinger claimed 2 wickets in 2 balls and gave death blow to them in the start of next over. Ryder and Moinish Mishra fell prey in that order as they tried to play pull shot of Left arm speedster. A Srikanth took a diving catch to send Ryder to pavilion, while Jakati a simple catch in the ring. Kulselkhara hit further murdered the Pune batting as he bowled Mithun Manhas with angled incoming delivery. PW were 37/3 at the end of power play as Yuvraj started his innings with a couple and followed it with boundary. Manish Pandey who came after 4 match ban was again unsuccessful in his second match of season as he got out trying to straight pull Southe and was caught by Ashwin. 

As CSK brought Spinner Ashwin he was hit for couple of sixes by Robin Uthappa. He also attacked Jakati but fell looking for too many runs. He top edged Ashwin and they was again Anirudha Srikanth diving in third man area to catch it. Robin who took 22 balls to reach his 21 took the score to 80 in 13 overs as he left.

In the next over Yuvraj hit his first six of Ashwin and PW reached 91 in 15 overs. Bollinger who returned for spell in 17 th over was greeted by Yuvi with a Sixer. In the next he hit Southee for one over the ropes to get to get to a half century in style in just 39 balls. Last 5 overs they claimed 40 runs.15 in last over with 2 sixes of Yuvraj’s blade.

Later loosing in-form Hussey who although looked out of touch to Murali Kaththik in 5th over, Murali vijay and Badrinath played steadily as they reach 75 in 11 overs. Vijay fell to Ryder in the next as he tried to attack. All through the attack Chennai run-worm was ahead of Pune in 13th over as Raina tried to settle. Raina and Badri hit 2 maximum’s each. They followed the Ariel route as the required run-rate appeared to be increasing after 15th over.

In the end it was cool chase for Chennai with 3 balls and 7 wickets to spare.

Match Highlights and Statistics: