Warner violence catapults NSW into semis

There are days when a batsman just can’t do anything wrong, today it was David Warner and the hapless opponents were local favorites Chennai. David Warner unleashed ferocious and merciless hitting in his unbeaten knock of 135, the highest individual score in the history of Champions League to blast NSW to 201. Chennai needed to get these runs in just 17 overs to overtake T&T in the net run rate, but couldn’t get anywhere near even if they played the full 20 overs, all out for 155 in 18.5 overs.

That power packed evening settled Group A, NSW and Mumbai qualified where as defending champions Chennai and T&T who had earlier beaten Cape Cobras were dumped out of the title race.

Before the Warner carnage had begun, all sorts of mathematical equations were floating in the air to determine how MS Dhoni’s Chennai can sneak into the semis. Once, the show began their passionate fan following as well as the qualification stats were stunned into silence. For Dhoni and his men, the situation fast turned from bad to worse, almost hopeless when the NSW innings ended at 201.

After electing to bat, the Blues openers played out a quiet first over which was lull before the storm. Shane Watson then tore into his fellow Australian, Doug Bollinger smashing three boundaries in one over. That prompted Dhoni to get his trump card R Ashwin into the attack only in the third over, Warner provided a little specimen of his switch hit brand, dispatching the ball over cover or mid-wicket for the right hander. In his next over too, the shot was repeated to perfection as NSW had got off to a racing start. At the end of fielding restrictions, the openers had built a solid foundation with score reading 50 for no loss.

Ashwin, though, managed to get a wicket, Watson miscuing his trademark slog sweep to be caught for 21. The breakthrough slowed down run scoring for a brief three over period during which Steven Smith and Warner did not hit any boundaries. At the half-way mark, NSW were 73 for 1, Chennai missed a match-changing opportunity on last ball of the tenth over when Jakati grassed a catch off Warner when he had made only 38 off 29 balls.

After that, it was a mini-Diwali at Chepauk, the night sky lit by fire works from the bat of David Warner who was hitting balls to all parts of the ground. He brought up his fifty with a powerful pull off Jakati. Bollinger second spell was equally traumatic albeit it was Warner this time instead of Watson. The Warner innings had everything meaty blows, switch hits and to top it all the hitting was not at all agricultural slogging. The placement was superb; the gaps were picked to perfection. Along with Steve Smith, he added 101 in little more than ten overs. Expectedly, Smith played second fiddle contributing 31 in the century stand.

Warner brought up his second T20 ton with a rare single, but kept hitting the ball out of the park. Two maximums in the 19th over off Bravo and two more in the last over bowled by Bollinger, one of which landed on the roof of the stadium meant Chennai were chasing a massive score when they came put to bat. Warner remained unbeaten on 69-ball 135 which was powered by eleven boundaries and eight monstrous hits into the crowd.

The home team had to pull a rabbit out of the hat if they somehow managed to surpass the total on a surface where 150 looked a defendable in the earlier match. To add to their woes the runs had to be made in only 17 overs for a last four spot. However, Michael Hussey and Murali Vijay made a valiant attempt to at least give the huge chase some start. The former teed off with three boundaries in the first over, while two more in the second over took them to 22 for no loss after two overs, which still was lesser than the required rate.

The openers put on 55 before Hussey fell for 37, his partner too disappeared in the next over as the wheels started to come off the chase. The mounting run rate meant that the batsmen had to hit a boundary almost every second ball, Raina briefly managed to do that in an entertaining 14-ball 28 but the target was too much of an ask.

Normally, a score of 88 for 3 after ten overs is a good one anywhere, but the enormity of the chase was such that Chennai needed 114 for seven for qualification. Even the injured Albie Morkel who missed the game could have been of little help under the circumstances. The match was almost done and Chennai’s hopes almost dashed at the half-way point, but there was still time for Warner heroics as he took a catch as well as a run-out courtesy direct hit from some distance. Chennai tried to score as many as possible but wickets fell in heap and the ‘men in yellow’ were all-out for 155, losing the game by 46 runs.