Hussey powers Chennai into IPL final

Michael Hussey’s poised half-century and a three-wicket haul from Ashish Nehra saw the Chennai Super Kings edge out the Royal Challengers Bangalore to advance to the 2015 IPL final.

On a difficult surface at Chennai skipper MS Dhoni’s homeground, Bangalore stumbled early against Nehra and despite a late surge, managed to score an under-par 8-139 from their 20 overs.

The Royal Challengers bowling attack then fought well defending what looked like a below-par score, pushing Chennai to the penultimate delivery of the innings before they were overtaken.

The Bangalore bowling, led by Mitchell Starc (1-27) looked the part but they just didn’t have enough to defend.

Their shoddy fielding, however, didn’t do much to help their cause and that in the end, proved to be one of the major differences.

It was a combination of a slow pitch and Dhoni’s tactical acumen that held back the Royal Challengers batsmen.

Dhoni’s decision to field first in a crucial knockout game was borne out of the anticipated dew towards the second half of the innings. With the slightly tricky surface in tow, he opted to bowl Ravichandran Ashwin out with the new ball and along with Nehra, the pair did not give much away to their opponents.

When Chris Gayle swung the second ball of the innings over wide long-off for a six, it seemed like his mandate from Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli was clear: score quickly when the ball was hard.

Image Id: ~/media/D14CC2B709B84AA594E5D0F2453D4211Chris Gayle was the best of the Bangalore batsmen // BCCI

But by the time the power play overs ended, Gayle had chipped in just another 13 runs to the Bangalore total and taken 22 further deliveries to do so.

At the other end, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers fell in the same Nehra over, forcing Gayle to bat responsibly.

The West Indian bided his time until the 13th over, but with the run-rate plummeting to five an over, he was forced to take on the bowling of Suresh Raina.

He smashed two successive sixes but in attempting a third Gayle only managed a top-edge that was brilliantly caught by Raina off his own bowling.

However, he had provided Bangalore with a much-needed injection of momentum and Dinesh Karthik and Sarfaraz Khan picked up from there on.

Karthik chipped in with a vital 28, his highest score of the season, while Sarfaraz made a reasonably quick 31, ensuring Bangalore scored 49 from their final five overs.

Unfortunately, their lack of runs in first half of the innings left their bowlers with much to do.

Image Id: ~/media/2236E03C08554B9B9F228828F5757307Virat Kohli reacts to a decision // BCCI

Hussey and Faf du Plessis combined in a 40-run partnership that gave Chennai a solid base, before Yuzvendra Chahal struck, removing Du Plessis (21) and Raina (0), leaving Chennai in a spot of bother at 3-62 after 10 overs.

Then, Hussey and Dhoni combined and kept the scoreboard ticking over before launching in the 16th over.

With the required run rate close to 10, Hussey struck a six over long-off first ball and followed it up with a hoick over mid-wicket for a second.

In just his third match of the IPL season, Hussey brought up his half-century from 43 balls and when he fell to David Wiese for 56 in the next over, Pawan Negi picked up where the Australian left off, putting his team within five runs of victory with six balls remaining.

Chennai reached the target with one ball to spare and will now clash with Mumbai on Sunday as they hunt for their third title.