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Suresh Raina played his best innings of the season - 73 off 38 balls - in the final © Associated Press
For Chennai Super Kings' third straight playoff match, a similar tale played out, putting them in prime position for their third consecutive IPL title. For the third time this week, a magical innings from a previously out-of-form batsman left the opposition clueless and Super Kings with a giant total.
After MS Dhoni and M Vijay, it was Suresh Raina's turn to play a blinder. He entered with Super Kings already in a position of strength, with Michael Hussey and M Vijay clicking again, and proceeded to pulverise the best of the Kolkata Knight Riders bowlers.
Weak against the short ball? Raina's first boundary was a powerfully pulled six over midwicket off Jacques Kallis. The mystery of Sunil Narine? Raina slog-swept into the stands and later deposited the ball near the sightscreen as Narine was handed his most expensive figures of the tournament. Brett Lee was swiped over midwicket on his way to figures of 4-0-42-0, nullifying the decision to include him to provide additional firepower to the Knight Riders attack. The shot of the innings, though, wasn't a muscled one, but a punch over the bowler's head that was perfectly timed to beat a diving long-on.
Unlike in the knockout game against Delhi Daredevils, Super Kings took a couple of overs to get going. Vijay didn't show off his off-side drives like he had against Delhi, instead reverting to his flat-bat hoicks and whips to wide long-on. His confidence was highlighted by an on-the-up thump over long-on for six when Lee dropped a bit short in the sixth over.
Keeping Vijay company was Hussey, who initially tackled the spin of Shakib Al Hasan with a series of reverse-sweeps. He countered Lee by bravely shimmying down the track and launching over long-off. As usual, Hussey's innings had the muscled sweep-pulls to midwicket and featured some precision placement. Midway through the innings, he was gasping for breath but his running did not slacken, even when he the non-striker. The boundaries vanished towards the end of Hussey's stay, but by then Raina was hammering the attack out of shape.
Knight Riders didn't fade in the field like Daredevils had. The first wicket came through a superb diving catch from Shakib, and there was no let up in effort as they attempted to keep the torrent in check. It was a flat pitch, and with a long batting line-up, Knight Riders weren't out of it yet.