Smith & Ryder |
Pune Warriors had only four wins all campaign in 2011, and were expected
to struggle again in the absence of their marquee player Yuvraj Singh.
Instead, they've got three victories in four and are top of the table
after upsetting the fancied Chennai Super Kings in front of a fanatical
home crowd.
It was an all-round performance from the Warriors, with their bowlers
first stifling the power-packed Super Kings batting by hitting the
blockhole as often as possible, backed up by some sharp fielding,
something which is a rarity in the IPL.
Their chase was then controlled by two contrasting innings from two men
struggling to hold down a place in their national sides. Jesse Ryder
began in a hurry, but calmed down to play through the innings for the
first time in his T20 career, and just when things started to become
tense in the chase, Steven Smith hammered a bunch of boundaries,
including two in the final over to complete the victory.
It hadn't seemed that it would be this close an encounter after Ryder,
who would probably have been dropped if he failed again, provided a
turbo-charged start, and even the run-outs of Robin Uthappa and Sourav
Ganguly weren't too big a hindrance. The spin duo of R Ashwin and Suresh
Raina, though, choked the runs to inflate the asking rate, making it
difficult to understand why Shadab Jakati and Jadeja were never used. It
came down to 34 off the final three overs, in which Ryder only needed
to take three singles - Smith's big hits took care of the rest.
Both captains had been uncertain about how the pitch at the Subrata Roy
Sahara Stadium in Pune would behave, but it had few demons in it. Super
Kings' innings was built around a clutch of boundaries at the start of
the innings from one of their cheapest buys, Faf du Plessis, and a
flourish from their most expensive signing, Ravindra Jadeja, in the
second half.
The openers began slowly before du Plessis waded into the fourth over
from Ashish Nehra, taking 18 off it including a six over the bowler's
head after advancing down the track. Du Plessis went on to become the
highest run-getter of the tournament, but his opening partner M Vijay's
struggles continued.
Still, Super Kings were well placed after du Plessis' blast, but were
slowed down by legspinner Rahul Sharma's strikes, who removed both du
Plessis and Raina. Warriors then kept a lid on the scoring through some
fast and full bowling from Marlon Samuels, who fired in a succession of
quicker deliveries, some clocked as high as 127kph. The batsmen couldn't
get under those deliveries, and even Dhoni couldn't find the
boundaries, finishing on an underwhelming 26 off 28.
Jadeja came out firing, and provided some impetus. Samuels' darts and
Ashok Dinda's impressive ability to consistently deliver yorkers,
though, kept the scoring down. All through the second half of the
innings, one kept waiting for Super Kings' big onslaught, but Warriors'
bowlers ensured that it never came.
pune fans cheering |
Jesse Ryder(73 off 56 balls ) |
Jesse Ryder(73 off 56 balls ) |
Jesse Ryder(73 off 56 balls ) |
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