T&T advance after Chennai crumble

India

Cricket365
October 2, 2013

Trinidad and Tobago crushed the hopes of Titans fans on Wednesday, beating the Chennai Super Kings by eight wickets to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League Twenty20.

T&T needed to win the match to keep the South African side out and advance, and they did so with ease, going so far as to top the group table and join Chennai, Mumbai and Rajasthan in the final four.

Chennai batted first and were all out for only the seventh time in the their history, crumbling to 118 in the 20th over, as Rayad Emrit took three wickets and Ravi Rampaul bagged two, along with Lendl Simmons.

It was a dire batting effort from the tournament's strongest batting line up, as they were unable to connect on the slow track. Suresh Raina top-scored with 38 off 29 balls, while only Murali Vijay and MS Dhoni were able to add double figure scores.

T&T's chase needed to be achieved in under 18 overs for them to top the table and hand Chennai the tougher semi-final against the Royals, and the West Indies outfit made light work of that, reaching 119 for two in the 16th over.

Openers Evin Lewis, who impressed in their previous match, and Simmons put on 79 for the first wicket in under 10 overs. Lewis departed for 38, trapped LBW by Raina, leaving Simmons to carry on to the end.

Simmons was unable to see the game out though, falling with the score three runs in arrears, having made a nifty 63. He was caught by Mohit Sharma off Ravi Ashwin after facing 41 balls.

Darren Bravo struck the winning run off his brother Dwayne, ending on 11 not out.

Chennai Super Kings: Mike Hussey, Murali Vijay, Suresh Raina, S Badrinath, Dwayne Bravo, MS Dhoni, Ravi Jadeja, Albie Morkel, Jason Holder, Ravi Ashwin, Mohit Sharma

Trinidad and Tobago: Lendl Simmons, Evin Lewis, Darren Bravo, Yannick Ottley, Denesh Ramdin, Nic Pooran, Sunil Narine, Rayad Emrit, Navin Stewart, Samuel Badree, Ravi Rampaul