Ground: | MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai |
Scorecard: | Chennai Super Kings v Kings XI Punjab |
Player: | PA Patel, M Muralitharan, Yuvraj Singh, J Theron |
Event: | Indian Premier League 2009/10 |
Chennai Super Kings contrived to lose a match which they should have won quite easily at the MA Chidambaram stadium on Sunday. The home team choked while chasing a modest score and squandered a winning position to tie the contest. In the super over, Yuvraj Singh pulled out an unlikely reverse sweep to see King XI, Punjab home. Kings XI finally tasted success against the Chennai side after five straight defeats.
 
Muralitharan was at his wizardly best as Kings XI Punjab was restricted to an under par score of 136 for eight. That total was made possible largely due to the pyrotechnics of Yuvraj Singh (43) who finally found his much wonted form in this match and the inform Irfan Pathan (39) who opened the innings. 
Muralitharans weaved his magic and reminded his detractors that there is still a lot of fizz in his bowling when he prised out his Sri Lankan team-mates Sangakkara and Jayawardene with subtle variations in line and flight. Despite Irfan's forcing shots off Gony at the start, Kings XI stuttered to 64 for four at the end of the 11th over. Gony leaked runs while Morkel, Ashwin and Balaji kept the batsmen on a tight leash. After Murali had conjured up magic deliveries in successive overs to get rid of the dangerous Sangakkara and Jayawardene it was left to Yuvraj to shepherd the innings. The batsman biffed 43 runs punctuated with trademark shots off his legs and down the ground as Kings XI managed 72 runs off the last nine overs. Hayden and Parthiv Patel gave the Chennai Super Kings a good start. Hayden with the Mangoose bat wasnt destructive but was effective as he found the odd boundaries to keep the score-rate tickling. Parthiv too punished the loose deliveries as Chennai cruised to 65 for no loss in the 9th over before a rush of blood cost Hayden his wicket. Chennai was in command when Juan Theron struck twice in the 13th over. Parthiv tapped the ball at his feet and called Raina for a run but Theron ran faster and kicked the ball on to the stumps catching Raina short. Theron won a lucky lbw appeal against Murali Vijay when the ball was clearly going down the leg side. The two wickets gave Punjab a sniff off a chance. Parthiv Patel finally lost his patience after compiling a half-century and was stumped off Chawla. Gony missed a crude slog and Morkel and Ashwin struggled to get the ball off square in the last over when the homeside needed 10 runs. Ashwin was caught off the last ball but Chennai manage to tie the scores. 
In the super over, Theron bowled Hayden but Raina hit a six as Chennai scored only 10 runs. Jayawardene smote Murali for a six but the bowler got the batsman for the second time in the match. Yuvraj Singh reverse swept Murali to snatch an exciting win for the visitors.