Hayden shines as Chennai edge out Mumbai in thriller

Chennai—A spirited late assault from Abhishek Nayar and Harbhajan Singh threatened to gatecrash the Chennai Super Kings’ first home game, but the Mahendra Dhoni-led side held their nerve to clinch an thrilling six-run win.
Left-handers once again called the shots for the Chennai Super Kings, this time in front of their home fans at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.After Michael Hussey’s 116 took them to the tournament’s highest score, 240 for 5, against the Kings XI Punjab, Matthew Hayden and Suresh Raina put on a 104-run stand to steer Chennai to 208 for 5 after they were put in by Mumbai Indians, who used eight bowlers to stem the flow of runs.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Chennai’s captain, indicated at the toss that the home team would have batted first, and the intent was positive from the start. Parthiv Patel got off the blocks first, wristily guiding Pollock through mid-on in the first over before bludgeoning Ashish Nehra through the same area. Matthew Hayden wasn’t to be outdone; when Pollock, knowing Hayden’s tendency to stand out of his crease, summoned Luke Ronchi up to the stumps, the batsman responded with a deft paddle sweep for four before smashing two fours over the bowler’s head. To make matters worse, four byes came off the final delivery of the over, which cost an expensive 18 runs.
Parthiv’s departure soon after, caught behind off Nehra, saw Hussey walk in. He was kept quiet by Nehra but soon gave the charge to the youngster Dhaval Kulkarni, though the result was an unconvincing scoop over extra cover. The bowler came back well - another charge only resulted in a thick bottom-edge which crashed into the off stump.
By then Hayden was muscling the ball cleanly, biffing a short one from Nehra to bring up the 200th four of the tournament, before a mishit just found its way over gully and backward point to reach the boundary. He was joined by Raina, who was content with pushing the ball into the gaps for singles. Kulkarni varied his length to good effect in his first spell, and wasn’t afraid to push in the occasional bouncer, including one that surprised Raina.
Harbhajan brought himself on in the eighth over and Raina, stepping out, nearly found the fielder in the deep. Dwayne Bravo, a last-minute addition to the Mumbai Indians squad, came on at the other end, and Hayden nearly cleaned up Raina with the straight boundary. Harbhajan conceded only 14 off his two overs but Raina broke the shackles by clubbing a low full toss over long-off. The 50 partnership came off 35 balls, and Chennai were set once again for a big score.
After ten overs, they were at 82 for 2, and it became 112 for 2 after 12. Bravo was pulled for six over midwicket by Raina before Vikrant Yeligati, playing his first game, was hit for two fours by Raina through midwicket. Five wides were given away as he dragged one down the leg side as Raina stepped out, but it was out of reach for Ronchi.
Pollock came on for his second spell, and this time Hayden brought out the reverse-sweep, a shot that would have surely deflated the South African. Raina cashed in as well, guiding one past through the short fine leg, and Pollock was to finish with 0 for 32 off his three overs.
Abhishek Nayar was the seventh bowler to be used by Harbhajan - in the 14th over - and he ideally should have dismissed both batsmen. Against Hayden he was unlucky, the batsman got a bottom-edge which lodged its way in the pad of Ronchi, but umpire Darryl Harper saw no nick.

—Agencies