Chennai Super Kings scored a whopping 59 runs in the last four overs to shock Royal Challengers Bangalore by six wickets and book a place in the Indian Premier League final. Everything is not lost for Bangalore here as they will get another chance by taking on the winner of the Mumbai-Kolkata clash on May 27 for a place in the final.
Unbeaten Suresh Raina (73) and Albie Morkel (28) held their nerves till the end to take the game away from Challengers - who controlled the match for the most part.
Man of the match Raina crafted a brilliant half-century in just 41 balls and shared 61 for the fourth wicket with Dhoni to lay the platform - much to the frustration of Royal Challengers. Dhoni struck two consecutive sixes against Zaheer in the 17th over to build on the momentum however the paceman snared the prized scalp the next ball to ease some unsettling nerves.
Raina and Morkel then added 46 runs in just three overs to win the battle of southern giants.
Bangalore started with a bang, when new-ball pair of Zaheer Khan and Sreenath Aravind removed openers Michael Hussey and Murali Vijay for a fourth-ball duck and 5 respectively (both LBW) to leave the defending champions wobbling on seven for two inside the first two overs. However, Suresh Raina and Subramaniam Badrinath stubbornly defied Bangalore bowlers mixing intermittent strokes of adventure with determined batting.
They added 63 runs for the third wicket before Badrinath was done in by Abhimanyu Mithun, when he mistimed one for an easy catch to Sreenath Aravind at the deep cover region. Badri struck five boundaries in his 34 runs to fortify Chennai's position as skipper MS Dhoni walked in with a job in his hands.
Earlier, Virat Kohli smashed a rapid-fire 70 not out and Luke Pomersbach an 18-ball 29 to revive Royal Challengers after losing hurricane Chris Gayle early against Chennai Super Kings. Kohli scored his sixth IPL half-century in just 36 balls and scored 18 runs off Albie Morkel's 19th over, with two six and a four, to deflate Chennai and put Bangalore's final bid back on track.
Super Kings ran into defiance when Kohli and Pomersbach, who added 48 runs for the fourth wicket in astute consolidation, scored easily against Shadab Jakati and Dwayne Bravo to bring a steadying influence in Bangalore's camp.
Kohli added another brisk 42 runs with Saurabh Tiwary for the fifth wicket and batted till the end to swing fortunes firmly Challengers' way.
Bangalore lost opener Gayle - their most prolific batsman in the ongoing Twenty20 tournament - in the fourth over of their innings, when a straight delivery from Ravichandran Ashwin caught the big-hitting batsmen on his pads. Umpire Simon Taufel was forced to raise his finger on the spirited appeal from Super Kings.
Gayle looked in good touch when he pulled a huge six off Ashwin before going for a sweep next delivery and missing it completely. Ashwin has been Dhoni's go-to bowler whenever he wants to take a wicket or stem the flow of runs and the off-spinner delivers every time he runs in to bowl. One wonders why Piyush Chawla was preferred over Ashwin at the World Cup.
Yet to get their batting combination right, Bangalore went in with Mayank Agarwal and Gayle today - their sixth opening pair - in 15 IPL matches with no success. Gayle departed early and Agarwal too lived dangerously for his 33-ball 34.
Unlike other days Chennai opened their bowling with Albie Morkel and Doug Bollinger today who capitalised on the early swing. The pacers with their accurate seam bowling gave away little in the first three overs that probably helped Ashwin. However in-form Kohli and Luke Pomersbach ensured Challengers post a challenging total for Super Kings.
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