Sir Shri Ravinder Jadeja failed to wave his magical wand in this game and as a result the Chennai Super Kinks franchisee lost its first game. Dubbed as always the pre-tournament favorites begun well by tapping Tendulkar for a golden duck in what could be his last game in Chepauk. And they had MI in mat by the 13th over stage at 6/83.
Pollard then showed why he is a dangerous T20 player of the world. 51 off 38 balls saw the MI post a respectable 148 for 6 with a good contribution from their former captain Harbhajan Singh. The pacers of the CSK did the job for them unlike the spinners. Ashvin bowled cheap but could get only 1 wicket.
Sir Jadeja did not turn up for more than 2 wickets. Mysterious. But it is Dhoni and it is very difficult to guess his moves. 0-12 in 2 overs. That's the only contribution he made.
149 was a gettable score always. Vijay and Hussey were the openers. Hussey will be available for full IPL after having retired from the international cricket. And Vijay was nominated to the Champions Trophy 30 probables replacing Virender Sehwag. How did he celebrate ? Going too wide for a leg side hive and seeing his stumps shattered.
The MI skipper continued to rotate his bowlers and soon the star studded batting of Chennai found itself back in the pavilion and when Sir joined MS Dhoni in the middle, I thought Sir with his Cricketing Puppa (Father) MS will see CSK home and in turn earn some more promotions from N Srini.
But the true colors and limitations of Sir Jadeja showed up. And after hitting a four and a 6, he returned back to the pavillion.
MSD continued to wage a lonely battle, something which he has so many times done for his franchisee and India , but in absence of any valued support from the other end, MI crossed the victory line by 9 runs. A good win but lot of questions on whether Ponting and Tendulkar opening combination will work or Rohit Sharma will ever fulfil his promise and will Harbhajan ever return to the wickets ?
But the game will be remembered for one more tight finish this season and the failure of Sir Jadeja after a miraculous unexpected success against Australia.
