McCullum and Hodge gun down Chennai

Chennai Super Kings v Kolkata Knight Riders, IPL, Centurion

The Bulletin by Shwe Wai

Kolkata Knight Riders 189 for 3 (McCullum 81, Hodge 71*) beat Chennai Super Kings 188 for 3 (Raina 52, Dhoni 40) by seven wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

	McCullum displayed the same destructive facet that was on display in first game of the IPL's inaugural version

Kolkata Knight Riders, powered by fifties from Brendon McCullum and Brad Hodge, staged one of most thrilling chases in the tournament and showed why the bottom-placed team may still prove to be the king-makers in this crucial last phase of the league games. Chennai Super Kings, who looked set to seal a semi-final spot with their mammoth total batting first, will now have to put the celebrations on hold.

The run-chase owed its success to three partnerships; the opening stand totally dominated by McCullum, his association with Hodge, where he took charge initially before letting his partner step up, and Hodge's match-winning knock with Wriddhiman Saha, whose calm presence combined well with the timely acceleration to stun Chennai.

The return of the seamers at the death heralded a decisive turn in the game as Hodge found an unlikely foil in Saha, who smote a six and a four in the 17th over from L Balaji that went for 14. The next over from Albie Morkel bled 13, with Hodge collecting two fours, one slapped back past the bowler and the other swung behind square leg.

With Chennai short of options, Balaji's reputation to hit the blockhole was again banked on, but he was guilty of the same slip-up that cost Kolkata their previous two games. He gifted Hodge with length balls, two of which were struck clean and straight over long-off, and a generous full toss to Saha off the final ball, who duly obliged to smack it over midwicket to bring it down to six off the last over. Suresh Raina tried his best, but despite an attacking field and a dot ball first up, the wave was against him. Hodge and Saha stole singles off the second and third deliveries, a tight run to cover on the fourth, before a swat to long-on with a deep enough Jacob Oram allowed them to scamper back for the second and level the scores. With the field brought up, an incredibly calm Saha chipped Raina over cover to seal a comeback win.

McCullum threatened to wrest the game with his blistering innings, displaying the same destructive facet to his batting that was on display in first match of the IPL's inaugural version. His dominant innings today was undoubtedly a reflection of his brilliance but the disproportionate influence his contribution had to Kolkata's score in the early part of the innings mirrored the serious lack of support from the other end.

McCullum immediately announced his intent from the first over, slashing one past slip, and clipping Morkel past square leg. Keeping him off strike became Chennai's immediate objective, and Sourav Ganguly made their job far simpler, struggling to get bat on ball, a stark contrast to McCullum's free flow. McCullum feasted on Albie, smashing him for 16 in the third over, while Ganguly was made to look like an irritable fly-swatter by Sudeep Tyagi. He was eventually put out of his misery, chopping one on by Muttiah Muralitharan, though Chennai, in hindsight, would have wished he had continued.