Dhoni spoils Steyn’s party

Chennai skipper helps his side to competitive total after the fast bowler’s early onslaught

BANGALORE: South African paceman Dale Steyn flew into town on Sunday evening. Twenty-four hours later he showed no signs of jetlag or wear and tear.

Opening the attack for the Royal Challengers, Steyn was on the ball right away. He probably was running on the high of Friday, when the Titans, the side he represents in the domestic circuit, beat the Dolphins in the ProT20 final.

MS Dhoni spoiled Steyn’s party towards the end taking 23 runs off the penultimate over of the innings to breathe life into his team’s outing. Dhoni’s 50 came off 24 balls. Mike Hussey initially took up the challenge of repairing the damage caused by some fantastic bowling by the Royal Challengers pacemen. Dhoni gave the finishing touches to the innings in style.

In the last over bowled by Zaheer Khan, Dhoni took 14 runs off the second, third and fourth balls before perishing in search of a great finish. He had smashed 65 runs in 30 balls by then to take the fight to the Challengers’ camp. Hussey perished off the last ball of the innings after taking the bull by the horns when it looked like his side was running out of steam after a stuttering start.

It wasn’t smooth sailing for the Chennai Super Kings all the way. Steyn’s first delivery clocked 143 on the speed gun. Parthiv Patel glanced to fine leg to put the imposing Matthew Hayden on strike. The Australian couldn’t be the bully he loves to play.

Leaving the ball is not something Hayden does often. Such was Steyn’s impact on the first few overs of this game that the Washington Redskins, the hottest cheerleaders rooting for the Royal Challengers, had a genuine reason to gyrate.

In his first two overs Steyn gave away just eight runs as the ball made very little contact with the bat. The atmosphere turned electric and smelling blood, Zaheer Khan got into the act. It was in his second over that Zaheer got into the groove.

He bowled four dot balls to Hayden and then came around the wicket to the left-handed opener. Hayden tried to strike out only to find an edge as the ball went to the third man boundary. Hayden tried a similar heave the next ball. He paid the price as the ball ricocheted on to his stumps off the bat. Shortly, after hooking Praveen Kumar for a six to fine leg, Parthiv fished outside the off-stump to give Jacques Kallis a regulation catch in the slips.

Soon disaster struck again. Raina, who gamely tried to turn the tide, turned blind for the second but was sent back by Hussey. Jaffer’s throw was good enough for Mark Boucher to knock off the bails before Raina made his ground. By now Rahul Dravid and his boys were charged up. 

By the end of the 10th over the Super Kings weren’t able to accelerate enough. They were 65 for 2. Skipper MS Dhoni walked in to cheers from the sporting crowd. Hussey and Dhoni kept the scoreboard ticking. In the 16th over Hussey smashed B Akhil for two consecutive sixes.

In the next over off Kallis, Hussey helped himself to two boundaries, one off an edge that beat the keeper. Dhoni then finished the over with a six that landed in the stands at long off.

Scorecard
Chennai Super Kings: PA Patel c Kallis b Kumar 21; ML Hayden b Khan 13; M Hussey c Dravid b Khan 47; S Raina run out (JafferBoucher) 28; M Dhoni c Chipli b Khan 65; J Oram not out 0
Extras (lb 1, w 3) 4; Total 178 for 5 in 20 overs
Fall of wickets: 1-22, 2-42, 3-83, 4-178, 5-178
Bowling: DW Steyn 4-0-40-0, Z Khan 4-0-38-3, P Kumar 4-0-29-1, JH Kallis 4-0-36-0, B Akhil 4-0-34-0