The Great Game Called Cricket...

Who said there is no room for a technically correct batsman in the IPL? S Badrinath walked into a tricky situation, took charge of the chase without playing a single ugly shot, and finessed Chennai Super Kings to No. 2 in the IPL table with an easy win, though the game ended in the final over. His effort came after Chennai's seamers made exemplary use of the extra bounce on the DY Patil strip to restrict Pune to 141, despite a well-paced 62 from Yuvraj Singh.

Badrinath's virtuoso made the score seem inadequate though Chennai's chase dawdled without direction until he came in. Badrinath isn't your typical IPL hero. His upright stance, clean feet movement, classical backlift and high-elbow follow-through are all made for Test cricket. Yet, he has managed to find a niche for himself in Chennai's muscular muscular top order in the IPL. This year, he has easily been their best batsman, taking charge of crisis situations without resorting to ugly shots. All of that was on display today, as he unfurled an IPL innings of rare beauty, scoring 28 of his runs off 11 balls in the 'V'. There were no cross-batted slogs, no lap-scoops to deliveries landed outside off, and not once was he caught napping on the front foot to a short ball.

Chennai are not fond of chasing, and today it was evident why. M Vijay and Michael Hussey began too cautiously and the result was 15 dot-balls in the first 4.1 overs. Hussey then heaved Murali Kartik to midwicket where Manish Pandey took a tumbling catch. Badrinath earned a promotion ahead of the out-of-form Suresh Raina, and the swap helped both batsmen.

Chennai had crawled to 39 for 1 in eight overs when Badrinath decided to counter-punch. He trotted out to Kartik and launched him for four through long-off. Kartik tossed the next ball further up, and Badrinath carved him inside-out for a six. Badrinath came out again later in the over, hoodwinking Kartik into dropping short, and then glided him to third man. The over went for 16, and in next over, Badrinath opened up the off side again, lofting Yuvraj for six more. 77 required off 60, and Chennai did not look back from there.

Rahul Sharma thought he had got Badrinath to edge the first ball of the 11th behind, but the umpire gave it not out and replays were inconclusive. Vijay managed to heave Jesse Ryder over midwicket but his scratchy innings ended in typical fashion when he holed out against a slow legcutter. Badrinath carried on as if nothing had happened, angling near-yorkers to third man and drilling half-volleys to the straight boundary with a vengeance. Suresh Raina ended the contest in the 18th over, muscling Jerome Taylor for sixes over long-off.

For the second time in three days, Chennai Super Kings handcuffed Pune Warriors' batsmen by making exemplary use of the conditions presented to them. While the spinners had tied up Yuvraj Singh's men in the Chennai leg, this time the seamers made use of the extra bounce to systematically dismantle the batting. As his team-mates once again perished to careless shots, Yuvraj played responsibly to hold things together before exploding towards the end, pushing Pune to 141.

Chennai's plans were evident in the first over of the game when Nuwan Kulasekara, on IPL debut, landed each ball short of a length. There was none of Kulasekara's trademark sideways movement on display, but this wasn't a stand-and-deliver kind of strip. The message was lost on Pune's batsmen though.

Ryder tried to dominate with a series of lofted boundaries off Kulasekara, but could not bully the pacier Doug Bollinger in the same manner. He fell top-edging an effort ball that rose quickly from short of a length. Mohnish Mishra perished to the pull as well, not bothering to adjust to the length after plonking his front foot forward. Kulasekara then dismissed Mithun Manhas with a trademark inducker that squeezed between bat and pad to disturb the leg bail. Manish Pandey departed to a replay of Mishra's brain-fade, cross-batting Tim Southee off the front foot straight to mid-on.

Uthappa tried to stamp his authority on spin, reverse-lapping Shadab Jakati with the turn, and cutting him when he dropped short. Uthappa had a score to settle with R Ashwin, who had bowled him around the legs with a carom ball in the previous game. This time Uthappa won the first round, slog-sweeping Ashwin's offbreak with the spin, and the carom ball against the turn for sixes. Ashwin finished on top though, nailing him for the second time with a carom ball on leg stump, inducing a leading edge as Uthappa again swiped against the deviation.

Yuvraj survived a loose flail at a Kulasekara offcutter first ball, and thumped the next delivery, one of the few over-pitched by Kulasekara, through cover. Thereafter he settled in carefully, and opened up only after Uthappa's exit. Yuvraj carted Ashwin with the angle over midwicket before launching Bollinger straight for the shot of the afternoon. Mitchell Marsh starved Yuvraj for strike in the end overs before falling to another front-foot pull against Bollinger. Yuvraj still managed to finish on a high, launching Southee for two sixes in the last over. The last five overs yielded 50, but Chennai were the favourites at the halfway mark, despite the absence of Albie Morkel in their batting line-up.