3124dThe Report by George Binoy

McCullum, spinners take CSK to No. 1

Brendon McCullum was at the forefront of a cavalier batting approach as Chennai Super Kings posted a total substantial enough to take them to No. 1 in the league

Match Centre

Statistics

Best performances - Batsmen

BB McCullum
BB McCullum
66(44) 8x4 - 3x6
Control %72%
  • Productive Shot
  • cover drive
  • 15 runs
  • 3x4 - 0x6
10 0 12 4 15 7 4 14
MS Dhoni
41(27) 2x4 - 2x6
Control %78%
  • Productive Shot
  • slog shot
  • 12 runs
  • 0x4 - 2x6
0 4 7 0 2 8 0 20

Best performances - Bowlers

RA Jadeja
RA Jadeja
O4
M0
R22
W3
Eco5.5
RHB
OFFLEG
1W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
2W
R Ashwin
R Ashwin
O4
M0
R14
W2
Eco3.5
RHB
OFFLEG
1W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
1W

Match Details

Toss

Chennai Super Kings , elected to bat first

Player Of The Match

Season

Hours of play (local time)

20.00 start, First Session 20.00-21.30, Interval 21.30-21.50, Second Session 21.50-23.20

Match days

25 April 2015 - night match (20-over match)

TV Umpires

Reserve Umpire

Match Referee

Points

Chennai Super Kings 2, Kings XI Punjab 0

Scorer: Chandan Duorah | Commentator: Deivarayan Muthu

END OF OVER:
20 | 1 Run 1 Wkt | PBKS: 95/9 (98 runs required, RR: 4.75)

  • Karanveer Singh2 (5b)
  • Sandeep Sharma1 (4b)
  • Mohit Sharma3-0-10-1
  • Dwayne Bravo3-0-13-0

Thanks for joining us tonight. Looking forward to your company tomorrow too. Until then, goodbye and good night.

Brendon McCullum, Man of the Match: It is nice to win. These guys are a dangerous team and we had to be on the ball. It was a thorough team performance. We had a little bit of luck at the start. The wicket slowed up and the spinners came into play. It is great to bat with Smithy and then the partnership with MS Dhoni and Raina. We were lit bit off against Rajasthan. We have to continue to improve as the tournament goes on.

MS Dhoni: I think it was one of the most convincing victories we have had throughout the IPL. The spinners made the most of it. He [Nehra] is fantastic. He has experience, which really counts. He has not slowed down with age. Even if he does not swing the ball, he uses the angles. Mohit was good and Ishwar gave us the breakthrough, which was important. They [Openers] play fearless cricket and at the same time play measured cricket. Even Smith does not play too many fancy strokes. That is why they are more successful than other openers.

George Bailey: Full credit to CSK. They smothered us in all three facets. We made things pretty difficult for ourselves, dropping a few catches. We are battling to find the momentum and consistency. We just have to find a way to put the bad stuff behind us and move on. It is about getting some momentum and confidence. The senior players must stand up and we must put in a Kings XI performance on the board.

11:30pm Clinical stuff from Super Kings. The win was built on a typical CSK blueprint: get off to a fast start, pile up a big total on the board, and throttle the chase with spin. Ishwar Pandey removed Viru in the first over and Shaun Marsh followed soon after. Ashwin and Jadeja then took over, showing excellent control and variations in flight. Kings XI continued to lose wickets at regular junctures and were on track to be bowled out, but Karanveer and Sandeep just about thwarted it.

vignesh: "@kishore, forget stumps, think how many marker pens Dhoni has got after signing the match ball

Varad: "KXIP scored 5 fours and 2 sixes... even less than McCULLUM"

shyam: "csk net run rate goin to sky rocket!"

kishore: "wonder how many stumps are there in Dhoni's house by now.. :)"

19.6
0
Sharma to Karanveer Singh, no run, CSK take the top spot. Kings XI sink to the bottom. Fuller and outside off, Karanveer flashes but can't connect
19.5
1
Sharma to Sandeep Sharma, 1 run, slowy, back of a length on middle, nurdled in front of square on the leg side. Mohit collides with Karanveer. But they complete the single
19.4
0
Sharma to Sandeep Sharma, no run, shortish and outside off, slapped away to the left of backward point. Jadeja dives across and stops the ball
19.3
0
Sharma to Sandeep Sharma, no run, fuller and on off, Sandeep takes a step forward and toe-ends a drive to mid-off
19.2
0
Sharma to Sandeep Sharma, no run, bouncer outside off, he yanks his head out of the way

Sandeep.

19.1
W
Sharma to Anureet Singh, OUT, another soft dismissal. Anureet backs away outside leg, Mohit follows him with a back-of-the-hand slower ball with some extra bounce. Sliced straight down the throat of Jadeja at backward point. That was the definition of a dolly

Anureet Singh c Jadeja b Sharma 10 (30m 20b 0x4 0x6) SR: 50

A Record in the Vicinity

97

Chennai's margin of victory today, their biggest in an IPL game. This was also King's XI's biggest margin of loss.

History with Kings XI

3

Number of times Kings XI played CSK during the 2014 IPL. They won all 3 games and made a 200+ score each time.

An Odd Habit

6

Instances of CSK losing after batting first and posting a 180+ score, the most for any team in IPL history.

History to fall back on

2

Number of times Kings XI have scored 180+ in successful chases against Super Kings, more than against any other team.

Tireless

4

No. of consecutive 2s runs by Dhoni in the 16th over. The 4 others to do this in IPL history are Watson, Morkel, Karthik and Harris.

Starting Trouble

116

MS Dhoni's strike rate this IPL, his lowest for any season. His previous lowest is 127 during the 2009 season in South Africa.

Maximizing the Powerplay

3

Number of times Super Kings have reached 50 inside the Powerplay this IPL, more than any other team.

A good idea?

0

Number of times Mitchell Johnson has opened the bowling in six games this IPL.

Solid up top

3

Number of 50+ opening stands for Chennai this IPL, the joint-most for any team.

Not CSK's favourite

8

Number of times Chennai have beaten Punjab, the fewest times they have beaten any team that has played all 8 IPLs.