CHENNAI BLASTS IN TO THE SEMI-FINALS BEATING PUNJAB

Chennai Super Kings secured their place in the Indian Premier League semi-finals with a 24-run victory over Kings XI Punjab.
The Super Kings managed to defend a below-par total of 116-9 thanks to some superb bowling from Muttiah Muralitharan, Ravichandran Ashwin and Suresh Raina.
The trio each picked up two wickets as the Kings XI finished their 20-over allocation on 92-8.
It was a poor effort from Punjab considering they themselves were in a must-win situation and things were looking bright for them after Shanthakumaran Sreesanth (2-23) and Irfan Pathan (2-32) helped restrict Chennai, who had only Parthiv Patel (32) amongst the runs.
The 2008 runners-up again opted to rest the tournament's leading run-scorer Matthew Hayden, but his replacement George Bailey and Patel looked solid during their opening stand, in which 40 runs came in just under five overs.
But the Australian was excellently run out for 15 by Punjab captain Yuvraj Singh and his wicket seemed to stifle the momentum thereafter.
Ramesh Powar sent in a quicker delivery that was clumsily played on by Patel ending his 23-ball stay but Raina and Subramaniam Badrinath looked to consolidate, taking the score to 68 in the final over before the strategy break.
That was when Sreesanth came on for his third over and dealt a hammer blow to Chennai by enticing Badrinath (4) into a pull that was lobbed straight to Pathan, followed by the wicket of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, clean bowled for two.
Dhoni's dismissal left his side on 70-4 at the mid-point, but when Wilkin Mota accounted for Raina (20), it left a big responsibility for the tail, who were easily rolled over with only Jacob Oram (17) managing double figures.
In response, Punjab always looked in trouble, but, after the early loss of Sunny Sohal (3), they did momentarily threaten with Australian duo Simon Katich and Luke Pomersbach at the crease.
However, the introduction of Muralitharan (2-8) led to the departure of the former, bowled around his legs for eight, before the latter followed in the 11th over when he edged the Sri Lankan to Raina at slip for 26.
Yuvraj looked out of sorts taking 19 balls for his six runs and after he was bowled by Raina (2-17), the rest of the team easily folded with Ashwin and Thilan Thushara also claiming two wickets apiece.
Of the remaining batsmen, only Pathan (14) managed double figures as Punjab ended well short and must now wait for the remaining two games to be concluded on Thursday to learn whether they may be able to sneak into the semi-final courtesy of net run-rate