Suresh Raina smashed an unbeaten 73 as Chennai Super Kings produced a stunning turnaround to beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by six wickets on Tuesday and storm into the Indian Premier League (IPL) final.
Chennai were staring down the barrel after being reduced to seven for two in the second over but Raina put the innings back on track with a vital 63-run stand with Subramaniam Badrinath. Raina’s innings upstaged a fine effort by Virat Kohli who hit 70 not out off 44 balls with three sixes and five fours after Dhoni won the toss and elected to field.
Raina battled cramps on his way to a 50-ball knock and shared 46 runs with Albie Morkel who scored an unbeaten 28 to help the defending champions overhaul Bangalore’s 175 for four with two balls to spare at the Wankhede Stadium.
Needing 33 runs to win from the last two overs, Morkel and Raina hammered 21 in the 19th over after which Morkel brought off the winning runs with a six off captain Daniel Vettori to cap a memorable outing for Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men.
“It was a difficult target, but we have been in similar situations, and we have the belief that we can win,” said Dhoni. “We kept believing that we could do it and we know we have the firepower.”
The final will be played in Chennai on Saturday.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 26th, 2011.
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