Alliterations have always captured my fantasy right from my childhood days. Here I am, with a series written in ‘alliterative alimony’ to celebrate the matches of the Chennai Superkings and its magic moments.
Keeping in toe with the “well begun, half done” phrase, Chennai clinched the IPL 4 opener against a refreshed Kolkata Knight Riders side by 2 runs. The match with its several swings of momentum slid in favour of the Kings with a dramatic final over by new joinee, Tim Southee.
Junkie Junior Cheeka
After having a couple of goes in the last edition of the IPL, Anirudha Srikkanth, given opportunity to open the innings came up with a Man of the match performance, only just. He was dropped of two easy chances, scored boundaries of mishits and never actually looked settled. Couple of sparkling sixes and well driven boundaries in his innings stood out. Nevertheless, Anirudha`s innings set the tone for a competitive total and also the confidence for him to go on.
Thala tickles Wickets
Sixes off his bat are a talking thing. With just a week after lifting the World Cup, ‘thala’ Dhoni was in his element proving his sharp captaincy skills. Contributing a valuable 29 to the total inclusive of a deposit in the stands, Dhoni’s choice of coming in at 4 kept up the tempo. After horrendously missing a simple stumping chance, he made up more than he let go – a total of three stumpings and a game changing run out. The direct hit to bring down the curtains on Yusuf Pathan’s innings was the hallmark. Whats more, Dhoni suggested the yorker to the batsman’s feet as choice for the last delivery that saw CSK triumph in the thriller.
Raina – ‘Thalapathi’ Trump
When the chips are down, Dhoni always goes to his trusted lieutenant (Thalapathi in Tamil). Raina bowled a decisive 18th over and turned the game head on by picking a vital wicket and conceding just 3 runs when the asking rate was 9. With his slow offies, Raina has answered duty whenever the Captain summons him to bowl. Today was no different.
The twisted tale of Foreign Four
The ever faithful, Albie, only foreigner to be retained by CSK from the previous editions, sent the ball past and over the boundary in the final two deliveries of the innings propelling the team total past the 150 mark. On the bowling front, he was off the mark. Suraj Randhiv’s inclusion completed the spin trilogy left vacant by Muralitharan. Though effective in his opening spell, two sixes off the penultimate over of the innings that he delivered almost crippled CSK’s chances. Scott Styris proved his mettle on field. He smartly backed up Dhoni to run out Gambhir and took a well judged catch in the final over at third man. Tim Southee was the pick amongst the foreign players. He bowled the final over, where in 9 runs were required, with precision and control. Ultimately he pulled the game in CSK’s favour with well directed yorkers and brought cheers to the hometown fans and the first points of the season.
Altogether a fabulous win to start with and wishing that the Superkings to continue their good show.
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