RC blown away by CSK

It was pressure that gobbled up Team Royal Challengers in the semi-finals of the Airtel Champions League T20 against Chennai Super Kings. The murderous counterattack by Chennai batsmen, the pressure of high asking rate, the slippery hands in the field and the injury to Dale Steyn added to the cause of a heavy defeat.

It was pressure that gobbled up Team Royal Challengers in the semi-finals of the Airtel Champions League T20 against Chennai Super Kings. The murderous counterattack by Chennai batsmen, the pressure of high asking rate, the slippery hands in the field and the injury to Dale Steyn added to the cause of a heavy defeat.

In summary, Royal Challengers were beaten hands down by a team which played superior quality of cricket in the field. Batting, bowling and fielding – Royal Challengers were left wanting tonight. They were off to the worst possible start against a huge challenge of 175 by losing the top 3 with pittance on board. The chase couldn’t gather momentum at any point of time as no partnership brewed up in RC. Rahul Dravid, Robin Uthappa, Ross Taylor was unable to tame the pressure of matching the asking rate of over 10 from the very onset of the chase. The saving grace was a fighting 50 by Manish Pandey, but by the time the most prolific scorer for RC, Virat Kohli departed, the Challengers were reeling at 37/4 and the match was all but over.

The fast nature of the pacers also helped CSK as Morkel and Bollinger proved to be more equipped. The Challengers were heavily handicapped in this department with the early injury sustained to Dale Steyn, their mainstay in the bowling.

Steyn’s absence from the attack perhaps triggered CSK’s Suresh Raina to go on a rampage on the crease. He blazed through to a 48-ball 94 which zoomed the total to 174 in 17 overs. The match became 17 overs a side as rain played spoilsport at the start.

RC could manage 123 eventually and lose the semi-finals by 51 runs. CSK moved into the finals as the deserved team. Congratulations to them!