MS Dhoni won the toss and had no hesitation in batting first, with the prospect of getting a big score for his bowlers to defend. Smith and McCullum set about doing just that, as they raced to 50 off just 4.4 overs.Smith smashing 20 off a Karanveer over. McCullum skied a ball off Anureet Singh, for what looked an easy catch but Mitchell Johnson dropped his first of the night. The bowler however came back strongly to dismiss Dwayne Smith. Suresh Raina looked out of touch and couldn’t capitalise on his chances as he too was dropped by Johnson. He got a reprive early on as well when the umpire failed to hear the nick after he was caught behind.It was McCullum who did the brisk scoring topping with 66. Dhoni and Jadeja produced the final flourish as CSK piled on 192 in their 20 overs.
The KXIP batting never really got going, with Virender Sehwag getting dismissed in the first over itself.The 31 run partnership for the second wicket between Murali Vijay, who top scored with 34, and last match’s hero Shaun Marsh turned out to be their highest as wickets kept tumbling down.Ashish Nehra continued his dream run picking up two wickets, while the spinners got into the act as well with five wickets between them.
A confidence shattering loss for KXIP as they were pushed to the last place in the IPL standings, while Chennai are showing once again why they are the Super Kings in IPL, going top of the table.
srikantkk 