Dhoni-led CSK advance, trouncing Punjab

CSK made a couple of Cha(mara)nges to their playing eleven – Stephen Fleming and Abhinav Mukund made way for Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan and Kapugedera.

KXIP made one change to their playing eleven – Luke Pomersbach made way for Mahela Jayawardene.

On winning the toss, Yuvraj Singh, KXIP’s skipper, chose to bat.

The first Powerplay of KXIP’s innings – which was the mandatory Powerplay – was between the first and the sixth over. They scored 35, and lost four wickets.

James Hopes, who faced five balls, scored a couple. (Nti)Nine balls into the match, he was caught by Parthiv Patel. Makhaya, the player of the match, broke the eight-run stand.

Kumar Sangakkara, who faced four balls, scored three. Five balls later, he was caught by Patel. Manpreet Gony broke the three-run stand.

Yuvraj, who faced eight balls, scored four. Fourteen balls later, he was caught by Muttiah Muralitharan. Gony broke the 17-run stand.

Shaun Marsh – the holder of Orange Cap (which is awarded to the highest run-getter in the IPL each season) – scored 23. His 17-ball innings included three boundaries and a six. Ntini had a reason to be in seventh heaven – he broke the six-run stand.

The fifth-wicket pair put on half-a-dozen. Irfan Pathan, who faced a dozen balls, scored just three. Fifteen balls later, Ntini and Gony ran him out.

Jayawardene, whose 10-ball innings included a boundary, scored eight. Nine balls later, he was caught by Patel. Albie Morkel broke the five-run stand.

KXIP scored 50 off 11 overs (66 balls). CSK had conceded an extra at that point.

Piyush Chawla, whose 15-ball innings included a boundary, scored a dozen. Twenty-three balls after Jayawardene’s dismissal, Muralitharan broke the 18-run stand.

Mota, whose 26-ball (Wilk)innings included a couple of boundaries, scored 25. Thirty-two balls later, he was caught by Suresh Raina. Morkel broke the 35-run stand.

KXIP scored 100 off 19.3 overs (117 balls). CSK had conceded three extras at that point.

Ramesh Powar, whose 21-ball innings included four boundaries and a six, scored 28. He was unbeaten, as was Sreesanth, who faced a couple of balls, failing to get off the mark.

CSK eventually conceded four extras. KXIP scored 112 for the loss of eight wickets off 20 overs.

Each of the five bowlers bowled four overs apiece.

Lakshmipathy Balaji, who was wicketless, conceded 27.

Muralitharan, who conceded 19, picked up a wicket.

Morkel, Ntini and Gony (whose spell included a maiden) picked up a couple of scalps apiece. They conceded 27, 23, and 14, respectively.

The first Powerplay of CSK’s innings – which was the mandatory Powerplay – was between the first and the sixth over. They scored 35, and lost a wicket.

Although his innings included a boundary, Vidyut had no reason to be in seventh heaven – he scored half-a-dozen. Fourteen balls into the chase, he was caught by Mota. Pathan broke the run-a-ball stand.

CSK scored 50 off 7.1 overs (43 balls). KXIP had conceded three extras at that point.

The second-wicket pair put on 50 off 47 balls. While Patel’s contribution to the partnership was 29, Raina’s contribution to it was 21. Extras’ contribution to the partnership was a couple.

Patel’s half-century – which included eight boundaries – came off 47 balls.

CSK scored 100 off 14 overs (84 balls). KXIP had conceded four extras at that point. That was, incidentally, the number of extras they eventually conceded.

Raina’s half-century – which included three boundaries and four sixes – came off 32 balls.

The second-wicket pair put on 100 off 75 balls. While Patel’s contribution to the partnership was 44, Raina’s contribution to it was 55. Extras’ contribution to the partnership was three.

Patel eventually scored 51 off 48 balls. He was unbeaten, as was Raina, who didn’t add to the aforementioned score. His 34-ball innings included four boundaries and as many sixes.

CSK, who scored 116 for the loss of a wicket off 14.5 overs, won by nine wickets with 31 balls to spare.

Sreesanth, who bowled an over, had no reason to be in seventh heaven – he was wicketless.

Hopes and V R V Singh bowled a couple of wicketless overs apiece. While the former conceded 20, the latter conceded 14.

Chawla, who bowled 2.5 wicketless overs, conceded 23.

Powar, who bowled three wicketless overs, conceded 28.

Pathan, who bowled four overs, conceded 24. He picked up the only wicket to fall.

CSK advanced to the final.