Hussey leads Chennai to semi-finals

Mike Hussey strikes a half-century off 39 balls and takes two crucial catches.

PORT ELIZABETH: Mike Hussey struck a half-century off just 39 balls and then held two crucial catches as the Chennai Super Kings reached the Champions League Twenty20 semi-final with a 10-run win over the Eastern Cape Warriors. But the vanquished Warriors also qualified for the knock-out stage, scoring enough runs to edge out the Victorian Bushrangers on net run-rate after Chennai, the Warriors and Victoria all finished Group A on six points.

Chennai, who topped the group, will meet fellow Indian Premier League (IPL) team Royal Challengers Bangalore in Durban today while the Warriors face the South Australian Redbacks in Centurion on Saturday.

“We are the IPL champions and we are expected to do well,” said Chennai captain MS Dhoni, looking forward to what he expected to be a “fantastic” match against Bangalore.

Meanwhile, Warriors captain Davy Jacobs was relieved as his team edged through to the last-four. “We were good with the ball but not good with the bat,” said Jacobs. “Maybe that was the bad game we needed.”

On a slow pitch, Chennai struggled to 136 for six before containing the Warriors, who needed to score at least 109 runs to go ahead of Victoria on run rate. Even that looked problematical until veteran South African wicket-keeper Mark Boucher hit two sixes off left-arm spinner Shakab Jakati in the 17th over.

Earlier, Warriors were off to a reasonable start with Jacobs scoring 32 but after Hussey’s stunning catch to dismiss the captain, the innings derailed as Chennai clinched their third win in four games.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 24^th, 2010.