If you've ever wondered the above, I urge you to go immediately to YouTube and watch the highlights of the Chennai Superkings vs. Kolkata Knightriders match from yesterday. There you'll see your answer.
Dhoni won the toss (which, to be fair, was probably more down to luck than skill) and opted to bat. The batting was painful. There's no other way to put it. It was dire, really dire. Hayden was disappointing again, Raina wasn't much better; Vijay gave the ball a fair whack, but couldnt' stick in long enough. With the run rate, predictions had the CSK total at 100ish, 115 at the most.
And then Dhoni came to the crease. He grabbed KKR by the scruffs of their necks, kicked them in their collective nuts and dragged his side kicking and screaming to 164. If ever a side needed their captain to step in and take charge, this was it. And Dhoni didn't disappointed: he got 66 in 33 balls, which included six 4s and three 6s; Badrinath did his bit as well but I'm sure that was only because of Dhoni's support.
When KKR stepped out to give their reply, Dhoni's bowlers stepped up in style. Clearly, the captain had threatened to hang them naked by their ankles and dunk them in hot custard if they repeated Sunday's ordinary performance. It worked. There were wickets all round (nearly); 3 for Kemp and even one for Muralitharan who got some impressive turn with the ball.
KKR crumbled before pressure from the Chennai bowlers and Dhoni's field placings. It's possible, just possible, that this guy has some idea what he's doing. This was a completely different Chennai side to the one that faced Deccan in their first match. This time the batting was average (mostly) and the bowling impressive.
At one point it looked like KKR wouldn't even hit three figures. They did, but still lost. They were bowled out for 109 in 19.2 overs. I was overjoyed when Bond went for 1 (stupid Kiwi) and that last run out was probably representative of the general feelings of the KKR batsmen - the body language of Sharma and Kartil screamed "let's just get it over with". Despite a good start with the ball, KKR had been utterly crushed by Dhoni and his team.
Sadly, Stupid Kiwi "get a haircut" Bond injured the God-like captain so here's hoping they don't need him to save them again next match. Haydos and his mongoose might have to actually, you know, play ...
Nice one. Now I've got some points. Cheers Paddle.
6 thoughts on this post:
Dhoni was outstanding yesterday. He orchestrated the batting and commanded his bowling changes quite superbly , leading to a beat-down !
TheVickerman
morethanjustagame!
Sid, now that Suresh Raina replaces DHoni as stand-in captain, dying to hear your predictions for CSK:)
I predict if the batsmen don't get their crap together now that they don't have Dhoni, CSK will end up coming in last.
The bowler Bond's batting figures are similar to the batter North's (who you want to play test cricket for your country)
Wes' last blog:
••• The Legsmith heads North
Only North's recent figures. He will be back and he will blind you with mastery. You just wait.
Told you so.
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