15 May, 2008
Sanath smashes ton

Sanath Jayasuriya smashed an unbeaten century to guide the Mumbai Indians to a comfortable victory against the Chennai Super Kings on Wednesday.

The opener's swashbuckling performance overshadowed Sachin Tendulkar's debut appearance for Mumbai and he powered his side to the 157-run victory target set by Chennai, which lost the toss and was put into bat.

The Sri Lankan hit 11 sixes and nine fours from 48 balls en route to his 114 not out, and with Tendulkar adding 12 off 16 balls and Robin Uthappa unbeaten on 16, he clinched this clash almost single-handedly.

Shaun Pollock had earlier laid the foundations, restricting Chennai to 6-156 after 20 overs with formidable figures of 1-9 off four overs.

Chennai captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Subramaniam Badrinath rescued the innings with a partnership of 95 from 55 balls after the Super Kings had been a dismal 4-57, but the total was nowhere near enough with Jayasuriya in this kind of form.

He started with a bang by smearing Morne Morkel for two boundaries in the second over, and launched Manpreet Gony for three sixes in the fifth over, bringing up the Indians' 50 in the process.

He dished out the same treatment to Morkel in the next over, smashing two awesome sixes and two more fours.

Chennai finally made the breakthrough when Joginder Sharma clean bowled Tendulkar (12) in the eighth over but Jayasuriya continued to hammer away at the target and took his side past their target in the 14th over with a flurry of boundaries.

Three successive sixes and two fours off Chamara Kapugedera capped a stunning individual performance and steered the Indians to a superb triumph.

Earlier, Chennai made a dreadful start up against an almost unplayable Pollock.

The South African took the wicket of Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan in the third over when the batsman tried to hammer one over the straight boundary but skied the ball to Rohan Raje at mid-off for 16.

The inconsistency of Chennai's top order has been a concern for Dhoni and the curse struck again when Suresh Raina was caught behind off Dwayne Bravo for one, leaving the Super Kings on 2-28 after six overs.

Fleming rallied and made 26 off 28 balls, including four fours, but never looked totally convincing and thick-edged a Dhawal Kulkarni delivery on to his stumps in the ninth over.

Kapugedera was almost out for a golden duck when he attempted a quick single which was never on, and he was back in the pavilion without troubling the scorers the next ball when he edged Kulkarni to Takawale in the slips.

Chennai laboured to 4-57 by the halfway stage but Dhoni and Badrinath salvaged some hope by racking up the runs, with the latter bringing up 100 for Chennai by creaming Bravo through backward point for four.

The pair accelerated the until-then low run rate in the final four overs, smashing regular boundaries, including a huge six over extra cover from Badrinath off Bravo, to power to a formidable partnership of 95 from 55 balls.

Badrinath reached his second Twenty20 half-century with another maximum over long-on, but he was then caught and bowled by Bravo going for another heave-ho.

Dhoni and Morne Morkel, who added five before being caught on the third man boundary by Uthappa off Kulkarni with the last ball of the innings, posted 15 runs in the last over to set Mumbai a target of 157 but it proved inadequate as Mumbai boosted their semi-final hopes with a convincing victory.