Chennai humble Deccan to reach final

KARACHI: Doug Bollinger continued to be a menace for the Indian Premier League (IPL) batsmen and his miserly spell, that included a four-wicket haul, guided Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to the final of the IPL for the second time at the expense of Deccan Chargers.

Chennai’s 38-run win, that ended the Chargers’ five-match unbeaten run, will provide their final opponents, Mumbai Indians, a stern test considering they restricted Deccan to 104 while defending a modest 142. Bollinger started the rot by dismissing Deccan’s captain Adam Gilchrist for 15 and they soon slumped to 54 for five as the stranglehold continued. By the 15th over, Deccan had only managed 80 runs and had lost half the side, thanks to the accuracy on show by Bollinger (four for 13) and Ravichandran Ashwin (one for 14).

Andrew Symonds remained Deccan’s top-scorer with 23 but no other batsmen managed to cross the 20-mark as the sorry Deccan batsmen failed to take a cue from their bowlers. Earlier, another Australian, Ryan Harris, picked up three wickets to restrict Chennai to a small total which was only made possible courtesy Subramaniam Badrinath (37) and MS Dhoni (30). The duo shared a 51-run fourth-wicket partnership and a late slog by Srikkanth Aniruda (24 off 15) allowed a target that the Chennai bowlers defended with ease.