Ninth last season, first to final this time. That may sound exciting, but it’s just a simple Chennai Super Kings thing. Or so would Mahendra Singh Dhoni like you to believe with his muted celebrations.
But fact is, it’s a stupendous achievement as Chennai beat Gujarat Titans by 15 runs in Qualifier 1 to be in their tenth IPL final.
The result is more remarkable because, defending just 172/7, the Dhoni brigade managed to chain one of the best chasing teams of the tournament. As the Titans lost their last wicket off the last ball of the innings with their score being 157, it was also the first time that they were all out since making their debut last year.
Ravindra Jadeja celebrates after dismissing Gujarat Titans’ Dasun Shanaka for this 150th IPL wicket on Tuesday. PTI picture
The Titans bowled well. When Darshan Nalkande over-stepped and allowed Ruturaj Gaikwad a reprieve on two, that threatened to hurt the defending champions badly. But their bowlers ensured the let-off wasn’t too costly as they kept taking pace off the ball on a somewhat sticky wicket to restrict Chennai. However, the performance of the Super Kings bowlers turned out to be a notch above their Titans counterparts as they bowled even better lines and lengths.
Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni scored just a single with the bat after the Super Kings were put in, but was spot-on with his field-placings and bowling changes. All his specialist bowlers — Deepak Chahar (2/29), Maheesh Theekshana (2/28), Ravindra Jadeja (2/18) and Matheesha Pathirana (2/37) — responded brilliantly to the situation.
Deepak Chahar celebrates after dismissing Shubman Gill in Chennai on Tuesday. PTI picture
If this game does go on to be Dhoni’s final appearance at the Chepauk, the legend certainly couldn’t have asked for a better farewell in what has been his second home.
The Super Kings’ find of the season, Pathirana, wasn’t as accurate as he was in the previous matches. But his other bowling colleagues, especially Chahar, Theekshana and Jadeja, kept striking at regular intervals to make matters tougher for the Titans. Hardik Pandya’s team will now face the winners of Wednesday’s Eliminator (between Lucknow Super Giants and Mumbai Indians) in Qualifier 2 on Friday in Ahmedabad.
Chahar didn’t let the Titans’ opening duo get off to a start as he had Wriddhiman Saha holing out at the deep. The main damage though was done by spinners Theekshana and Jadeja as they stemmed the flow of runs and also picked wickets in those crucial middle overs, which added to the pressure on Shubman Gill (30 off 16 balls), who went into this game with back-to-back hundreds.
Earlier, Mohammed Shami (2/28), Mohit Sharma (2/31) and left-arm spinner Noor Ahmad (1/29) varied their pace and made sure not to bowl too full, which crippled the Super Kings batsmen to a certain extent.
But with Dhoni at the helm, even ordinary totals can turn out to be tall challenges for the opposition. Not for nothing is the man worshipped by the Chennai fans.
