IPL7: CSK Vs KXIP 18/04/2014 - Results, Review and Statistical Highlights
Brendon McCullum proved to us once again yesterday why he belongs to the the Twenty20 genre of cricket. Looking at him bat yesterday brought glimpses of the very first match of the Indian Premier League where he achieved the Impossible (Scoring 150+ in a T20). Well, that is history now as not even his and Dwayne Smith's heroics could help save the day for the Chennai Super Kings. The Kings XI Punjab on the other hand proved why they are strong contenders for the title this year after they chased down a score of 205 with well over an over to spare.
There is absolutely no doubt that the Chennai Super Kings have few of the most fierce hitters of the cricket ball. Unlike last year where they had Michael Hussey and Murali Vijay opening, this year it was Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum. Boy, did they justify their worth yesterday with a hundred plus partnership for the first wicket with 70 of it just coming in 6 overs.
No offense to Michael Hussey and Murali Vijay, the team looks a lot stronger this year as weak links have been closed down and almost every batsmen of theirs can score runs at a rate of knots. Their bowling however was a different story, as they couldn't even defend a target of 200+. Their fielding on the other hand was well below par with a couple of drop chances, Dwayne Bravo's injury and a wrong umpiring decision (Maxwell's LBW off Ashwin) didn't help them much either.
Kings XI Punjab on the other look fresh and raring to go and looked up for reaching the target right from the first ball with Virender Sehwag showing glimpses of his old self. One concern for them remains, if not Maxwell then who will take the responsibility for them to win matches?
David Miller gave good company to Maxwell but consistency might lack considering Maxwell was the major scorer in the partnership. All in all to sum it up, both the teams got hammered in the bowling department and really powered their way through while batting and it was a great match.
It would be interesting to see how Punjab performs when Maxwell fails in the upcoming games and how quickly Chennai Super Kings recover from their shock defeat.
