Chennai Super Kings defeat Deccan Chargers to enter the IPL-3 Final

Chennai Super Kings encouraged by the gritty display of their bowlers led by Doug Bollinger who took four wickets ended the run of five consecutive wins of Deccan chargers. This victory ensured Chennai Super Kings qualifying into the IPL final for the first time.

Chennai bowlers bowled out the Deccan Chargers for 104 runs in 19.2 overs while defending the fighting target of 142 runs. Bollinger put up an impressive performance and got rid of Adam Gilchrist,Tirumalsetti Suman, Bodapati Sumanth and Ryan Harris. Apart from Bollinger, Shadab Jakati also took two important wickets of opener Herschelle Gibbs and Monish Mishra. Allen Morkel and Srilankan spinner Mutthiah Murlitharan took one wicket each.

Though Andrew Symonds tried to revive the fortunes of Deccan Chargers by striking Jakati for four consecutive fours in an over, in the 16th over, he slogged R Aswin straight to midwicket dashing hopes of the Chargers reaching the finals. Mr. Dependable Rohit Sharma was also not able to rescue Deccan Chargers from trouble. He played an irresponsible shot by lofting Albie Morkel and was caught out by Muttiah Muralitharan. Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs who are currently out of form played very cautiously in the power play which yielded only 23 runs in these overs making it the second lowest score in the tournament.

Earlier Deccan Chargers restricted the Dhoni’s team to 142 for seven wickets in the second IPL semifinal played at DY Patil Stadium, Mumbai. At one time, Chennai Super kings were struggling with only 29 runs at the fall of three wickets. However a measured partnership between MS Dhoni and S Badrinath and a late surge from Anirudh helped them overcome the poor start and set up a competitive score of 142 runs.

S Badrinath was top scorer for the Chennai team. He made 30 runs in 32 balls and was run out by Deccan’s captain Adam Gilchrist. Dhoni’s 52 run partnership with Badrinath was cut short when he was caught at the gully by Rohit Sharma. His partnership with Badrinath include four fours, in which three were hit by Dhoni hmself. Srikkanth Anirrudh hit two sixes and a four making 24 runs in 15 balls. Ryan Harris took three wickets for Deccan Chargers.

Chennai will now face Mumbai Indians in final on April 25,2010 in Mumbai.