MS Dhoni calls correctly, opts to bat

Chennai Super Kings' captain MS Dhoni won the toss and decided to bat first in their Indian Premier League semi-final against defending champions Deccan Chargers at the DY Patil Stadium in Nerul on Thursday.

"We had a good practice session in Chennai, it is a pressure game, it is important for the senior players to keep it simple to show the way for the juniors," says Dhoni.

He will be regretting his decision as the innings progresses, as Chennai managed only a modest total.

But thankfully for him, the match went in his team's favour.

Ryan Harris was the pick of the Hyderabad bowlers.

The Australian bowled a fine first spell to get rid off both the Chennai openers Murali Vijay and Mathew Hayden cheaply.  

The team from Chennai had a fortunate start when Hayden (8) a double let-off.

The left-handed Australian opener was dropped twice, by RP Singh and T Suman respectively but he failed to make use of the good fortune and was dismissed in the last ball of the second over.

Murali Vijay (15) followed suit after looking good for a big score when he took 13 runs in the third over from RP Singh, which included a massive six over mid-wicket, before being trapped leg before by Harris.

Harris finished with excellent figures of three for 29.

Andrew Symonds, after witnessing Matthew Hayden being dropped by RP Singh off his bowling, contrubuted to the dismissal of his former Australian teammate.

Symonds made no mistake at cover when Hayden hit a Ryan Harris delivery straight at him.

The burly Australian then came back to take a wicket.

He induced an edge off Suresh Raina (2) and Adam Gilchrist made no mistakes behind the stumps to leave Chennai gasping at 29 for three.

MS Dhoni, the Chennai captain, had to help his team do the repair work.

Dhoni and Badrinath put on 52 runs for the fourth wicket to give semblance of respectability to the Chennai innings with the former expectedly being the expected aggressor.

His 32-ball 30 was inclusive of three hits to the fence, an uncharacteristic but important innings.

But the India captain fell just when he looked to be stepping up the pace, edging a leg break bowled wide by Harmeet Singh to fly-slip Rohit Sharma.

It was left to S Badrinath to help Chennai to a respectable total.

His 41-ball 37 was inclusive of three hits to the fence and one over it.

Badrinath slammed Symonds to the mid-wicket fence for a four to raise team 100 in the 16th over.

He was sixth out, stumped when he charged out to R P Singh and failed to connect properly with Gilchrist standing up to the stumps.

Anirudha Srikkanth used the long handle to make a 15-ball 24, that included two sixes, which enabled Super Kings add 46 runs in the last five overs.

Doug Bollinger led the Chennai Super Kings' charge with the ball.

The MS DHhoni-led side, beaten finalist in the inaugural season, crushed the defending champions by 38 runs in the second semifinal to set up a summit clash with Mumbai Indians on Sunday. 

Bollinger, with figures for four for 13 stood out, having rocked the Deccan top order and then dropping curtains on the opponent's innings with his tidy four overs.

The Australian took the wickets of Matthew Hayden and T Suman in his third over and came back to take the wickets of Ryan Harris and B Sumnath in his final over to help his side's cause.

Left-arm spinner Shadab Jakati also chipped in with two crucial wickets to hasten Deccan Charger's fall.

Chasing a modest target (143), the Chargers were never in the game as they lost wickets at regular intervals and their listless batting could be gauged from the fact that Andrew Symonds topscored them with a 22-ball 23.

The Chargers will now return to the same DY Patil Stadium on Saturday where they take on Royal Challengers Bangalore for the third place playoff, which will decide which one of them would join Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings in the Champions League Twenty20 later this year.