Chennai Super Kings 165 for 4 (Hayden 35, Pollard 2-27) beat Mumbai Indians 141 for 9 (Tendulkar 45) by 24 runs
Chennai Super Kings completed a sweep of their three-match home leg after the Mumbai Indians' batting fell apart in a rash of poor strokes following Sachin Tendulkar's retirement due to dehydration. On a track where 467 runs were plundered three days ago, boundaries were hard to come by and, despite being hampered by dew, Chennai easily defended their moderate total.
Tendulkar was on his haunches and breathing heavily as early as the fourth over of the chase. However, he and Shikhar Dhawan provided their customary solid start, hitting a four an over in the Powerplay to take Mumbai to 46 for 0. Dhawan chopped on Thilan Thushara's first delivery, but Mumbai progressed smoothly, if slowly, to 62 after nine overs when Tendulkar decided to retire.
After looking in control of the match till then, Mumbai imploded, losing a wicket in each of the next six overs. Ambati Rayudu was the first to go, stumped after tearing out of the crease and missing when looking to loft a short ball from Suresh Raina. When Chennai celebrated, Rayudu practised the stroke that would have served him better, a cut.
The potentially explosive Trinidad pair of Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard have done little of note with the bat all tournament, and the trend continued at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. Both looked to launch the ball into the crowds beyond the sightscreen but got more height than distance on their strokes, and a pair of well-held catches sent them on their way.
In between, the promising youngster Saurabh Tiwary who had looked the most assured of the Mumbai batsmen barring Tendulkar, also perished, slogging straight to deep midwicket off the impressive Shadab Jakati, whose solid tournament continued.
R Sathish and Ryan McLaren were involved in some nervy running before Sathish was caught out by a direct hit from S Badrinath at short cover. The only wicket the bowler can take credit for in the entire collapse was McLaren's - offspinner R Ashwin trapping him lbw in front of offstump, so plumb that Chennai's appeal was more a celebration than a question. Mumbai had lurched to 92 for 7 and even the return of Tendulkar couldn't extend their winning run.
Their bowlers had done a better job earlier in the evening, shackling a powerful Chennai batting line-up. Opener M Vijay couldn't complete a hat-trick of brutal innings in front of his home crowd, bottom-edging Harbhajan Singh onto the stumps early.
Matthew Hayden is supposed to be the bruiser at the top of the Chennai line-up, but yet again he couldn't find the boundaries, dealing mainly in singles. After the lethargy in the Powerplays, Suresh Raina was just starting to catalyse the innings before failing in his attempt to clear midwicket off a short ball
Chennai were kept on their toes when Dhoni made a typical bustling start, and Hayden flicked and drove Bravo for ten runs in the next over. When Dhoni edged one past the keeper for four in the 12th over, 63 runs had come off the previous six. It was two overs later that the match swung. Pollard's slow bouncer tricked Dhoni, and Hayden's Mongoose bat wasn't enough to clear long-on off the next delivery.
The home side slid to 119 for 4, after which boundaries again proved scarce, none coming in the next four overs. Michael Hussey and S Badrinath picked off the singles but struggled to hit top gear, before some innovative strokeplay from Badrinath lifted Chennai to 165, which ultimately proved enough for their third straight win.
