Balaji hat-trick bowls Chennai to victory

In Match 31 of the DLF Indian Premier League (IPL) played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium at Chennai, hosts Chennai Super Kings defeated the Kings XI Punjab by 18 runs. The last encounter between these two sides also saw Chennai on the victorious end, and at that time by a margin of 33 runs at the PCA Stadium, Mohali.

In this second battle between the two sides, Yuvraj Singh, captain of the Kings XI Punjab, won the toss and elected to field. The Super Kings lost both their openers early in the innings till Suresh Raina (26) and Subramaniam Badrinath (64) steadied proceedings with a 44-run partnership. Raina fell but Badrinath continued his good innings with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (60).

Some brisk scoring by these two batsman saw Chennai reach a commanding total of 181/4 in their 20 overs. S Sreesanth was the pick of the bowlers picking up 2 wickets for 29 runs from his 4 overs.

Chasing the challenging target of 182, the Mohali-based side was looking for its sixth win of the Twenty20 tournament and Shaun Marsh did all he could to ensure just that. He scored a brisk 58 off 38 deliveries before he was scalped by Lakshmipathy Balaji. But the other batsmen looked in no mood to give the in-form Australian lad company. James Hopes (14) and Ramnaresh Sarwan (20) were the only two batsmen who looked to put the Kings XI back in the chase. Irfan Pathan’s 18-ball 40 was a last resort of desperate hitting to the fence but the asking rate kept climbing with every dot ball.

Balaji had a marvellous day in the office clinching 5 wickets for 24, including the first hat-trick of the IPL. Wickets 7, 8 and 9 fell off consecutive deliveries in the 20th over. Pathan was the first to go when he lofted the ball straight to Raina. Piyush Chawla (17), who was giving Pathan company at the other end, became the Chennai bowler’s second wicket of the over with Chamara Kapugedera pouching an easy catch at long-off.

The Chidambaram Stadium came alive in the dying moments of the match and Balaji did not disappoint. VRV Singh top-edged the fifth ball of the over and captain Dhoni made no mistake taking a comfortable catch. The bowler received a grand ovation for his superb achievement.

The Mohali franchise could only manage 163/9 in the end, handing Chennai its sixth win of the tournament and a chance to claw way back into the top four.

The Player of the Match award rightfully went to Balaji for his splendid bowling effort.

The Yuvraj Singh-led Punjab side now falls into third place on the points table after ending its 5-match winning streak tonight. Dhoni’s Chennai is in second place on the basis of net run-rate just behind Rajasthan Royals.

The next match of the IPL will be played between the Hyderabad Deccan Chargers and the Kolkata Knight Riders at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium at Hyderabad on May 11.