Dharamsala, April 18: In a thrilling finish, Chennai Super Kings reached the semifinals of the Twenty20 Indian Premier League-3 match with a six-wicket victory over Kings XI Punjab here today.
Put in to bat, Kings XI Punjab piled up 192/3 in 20 overs. Shaun Marsh was the top-scorer. He remained unbeaten on 88 off 57 balls which was studded with 5 huge sixes and 8 fours. Kumar Sangakkara contributed 33, while his compatriot Mahela Jayawardene brought in 21 runs. Irfan Pathan played an interesting innings and was unbeaten on 44 which came off 27 balls.
In the second innings, Chennai lost Murali Vijay and Matthew Hayden early. However, the other players made up for the loss: Suresh Raina, S Badrinath and Mahendra Singh Dhoni showed great spirit. Though Raina made only 46 off 27 balls, Badrinath contributed 53 off 36 balls.
Dhoni played a captain’s innings and proved his worth when the chips were down. He remained unbeaten on 54 off 29 balls. Dhoni hit two sixes when the team needed 10 to win off four balls. The winning shot was a six and his teammates in the dugout came screaming and thumping their chests as Super Kings entered the semis.
Chennai Super Kings reached 195/4 in 19.4 overs and Dhoni, understandably, was declared the man of the match.
CSK have 14 points from 14 matches but are placed second on the points table because of better net run rate.
Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore have already qualified for the semifinals of IPL 2010.
Kings XI Punjab finished at the bottom of the IPL points table with this defeat.
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