Chennai Super Kings: They played like Champions do – A fairy tale Part 3

Photo courtesy: Cricinfo

It was the Champions League 2010 in South Africa - a tournament which everyone was eagerly waiting for. Three of the Indian Premiere League teams – Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore had qualified for the tournament that would determine the Champion of Champions. Yes, it was a tournament that comprised the best T20 teams of each Cricket playing nation. Some nations didn’t participate for reasons unknown but the tournament was all set and ready to go.

Chennai Super Kings had an easy opening match against the New Zealand’s Central Districts Stags team. The latter looked ordinary against the Chennai team and their clinical victory against Sri Lanka’s Wayamba earned the critics’ view that Chennai play like Champions do. Ashwin and Bollinger were again praised for their deathly attacks. Albie Morkel was in his best form in his home ground. Raina’s batting won was extraordinary and Hussey was proving to be a best supporter for the other side slowly clinging on to partnerships. 

However, in the very next match against Australia’s Victoria team, they almost slipped but couldn’t stop the chasing Victorians to equal the defending total thus leading to a Super Over. It was another day of Dhoni’s blunders when he handed the single Super Over to Ashwin when it should have been handed to Bollinger instead. Though Ashwin torments the batsmen, the batsmen had no other choice but to go for every ball of the slow bowler and they ended up scoring 20+ runs in that over. Chennai couldn’t chase the massive score and thus lost the match.

It ended up again in a thrilling must-win encounter against South Africa’s own warriors. Chennai had managed to get only 136 which they would have easily lost. However, Chennai’s bowling was at it’s best during the match. Warriors had to get only 110 odd runs to reach the semi-finals whereas Chennai should win the match to reach the semis otherwise they would pave the way for Victoria to reach the semi-finals. Warriors lost the match but not before getting the required target to reach the semi-finals. Yes, now both teams became qualified for the semis. As the commentators had pointed out, it was a rare occasion where both teams went home happy when it was not even a draw. It was clear when Warriors’ captain Davy Jacobs raised thumbs-up to the Chennai team after the speech at the match presentation.

It was an exciting semi-final between IPL’s own teams Chennai vs Bangalore (Mumbai didn’t qualify for semis). The match never went well for Anil Kumble as rain delayed the proceedings and reduced the match to 17 overs a side. That did not stop Chennai from hitting every ball they find. Raina was in his massive form hitting five 4s and six 6s at a strike rate of 195 to reach 94 and also to take Chennai to a massive total of 174.  It was Bangalore’s worst day as the team fumbled in their fielding, bowlers bowled expensive spells and the worst part was that Dale Steyn, their strike bowler, got injured when he caught a ball by moving backwards. There ended Bangalore’s hopes and Chennai did well enough to win by a good margin.

It was the finals and though the home team Warriors was the favorites among the crowd, it was clear to everyone that Chennai had high chances of winning the title. Chennai half won the match when the slow bowlers of Chennai – Ashwin and Muralidharan bowled miserly spells and also scraping 5 crucial wickets among them thus restricting the Warriors to a total of 128. With Chennai’s mighty batting lineup, no one had a doubt that Chennai would be going home the winners. Chennai however played slow and steady. They lost quick wickets in the middle however they were nowhere near losing. Even the face of the Warriors showed that. In the end, Chennai became the Champion of Champions. Davy Jacobs accepted that Chennai outplayed them in all the departments.

It was an emotional night for them. They not only won the third edition of the IPL but also won the prestigious Champions League thus making them the Champion of Champions. The team was applauded for their team effort and not relying on individual performances. Everyone delivered when it mattered the most. Ashwin was the spotlight of the tournament and it was not a surprise when he was declared the man of the series and also given the golden stumps for being the highest wicket taker. It was an emotional moment for another reason – it is the final time that this team’s composition would be playing for Chennai. Only four players of this entire team might be retained in the next edition. It was definitely a fairy tale ending for a team which stuck together and supported each other, a team that deserved to be called the Champion of Champions.

Chennai Super Kings: They played like Champions do – A fairy tale Part 2

It was the third IPL, the last one for the teams after which all the players would be re-auctioned. Chennai was not at the best in the first stage losing 4 out of 7. They lost for the first time to Kings XI Punjab in a devastating Super Over that favored the Punjab team. It was all not going well for the team until Chennai decided to buy a man whom they would have only imagined in their dreams that he is going to save Chennai for the rest of the tournament. That man is none other than Australian pace bowler Doug Bollinger.

Doug made no mistake right from the beginning; he picked up wickets at regular intervals and bowled unplayable deliveries that threatened the batsmen. Batting was never a concern for the team even though Hayden was failing miserably at every match. That was the first time the Mongoose bat was introduced (a bat which was short and easy for gripping). It was a complete failure and Hayden only suffered trying to use the bat. The only time he delivered with the bat was against Delhi team where he hit 70 odd runs. Though Hayden was a failure, there were other batsmen to fill in his position. Justin Kemp, South African all-rounder was bought by the team and he proved his worth now and then.

Also now, the bowling was not a concern with the arrival of Doug Bollinger and also Muralitharan was at his best. Then came a surprise package; it could be regarded as a bonus. Chennai specialist spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (proud to mention that he is from my college SSN J ), who was there in the team as a second spinner made little contributions to the team. He was benched when Chennai lost the super over not to forget the reason for the Super over being the unreasonable shot by Ashwin. But then, Ashwin was brought back suddenly and the new ball was given to his hands. As if a wizard has been given his magic wand, Ashwin performed miracles with the new ball. He was able to make the ball turn on either sides and also he specialized with the new carom ball, a technique which only the Sri Lankan special spinner Ajantha Mendis possessed. Ashwin was doing the impossible – he was bowling maiden powerplay overs.

With Doug, Ashwin, Murali taking care of the bowling with some help from Balaji and Morkel, the team’s chances of going to the semi-finals increased. The team’s fortunes, however, was that they had to win a few matches because of equally ranked teams. It got into a close situation with their final match against Punjab where Dhoni, himself, hit more than 15 runs to win the match to reach the semi-finals. At the end of the match, Dhoni struck his fist into his chin emotionally and he admitted that it was an emotional moment for him to win the match for the team as heavy stakes are on him and his teammates. Chennai made no mistake in the semi-finals beating Deccan Chargers comfortably. The final was touted to be the most thrilling match of the season because of the clash of the Heavyweights Mumbai and a team that barely managed to reach the finals – Chennai.

The odds were against Chennai but the determined Chennai team gave in their best batting performance on a track that wasn’t offering much for batsmen. They managed to reach a score of 160 where it was declared that even a score of 140 would be difficult to chase. Ashwin and Bollinger kept up to their expectations making the batsmen struggle. Mumbai captain Sachin made a blunder by making their special batsman Kieron Pollard wait. It is rare to see Sachin angry and it was one of such days when he failed to make a single. He did get out and instead of sending Pollard, came Harbhajan Singh who was expected to hit. He was instantly out; the required run-rate became pretty huge until the 15^th over when Pollard came to the crease.

 For an over, the Mumbai crowd was roaring at their feet; only minutes earlier, they were too silent. When the match was left on Pollard’s shoulders where even a wicket was sacrificed for him, Dhoni did the impossible. He expected Pollard to hit straight and placed Hayden between short mid-off and long off. The very next ball Pollard got out hitting straight to Hayden and there, everyone had unanimously decided that it was going to be Chennai’s game. Chennai didn’t  fail to the expectation and Chennai won the third IPL season – a feat that they came very close to achieving the last two times. It was the final IPL before the teams get shuffled; it was special; it was a dream come true for Chennai. Yet they had one more thing that they had to achieve – the Champions League T20 2010 in South Africa.

(to be continued)