Chennai prove to be the comeback kings

As Dhoni helped his side make the semi-final cut with only his second half-century this edition (a 29-ball-54 against Punjab at Dharamsala),it was the first occasion in IPL III when the entire batting order contributed to a Chennai victory. S Badrinath,Suresh Raina and all-rounder Albie Morkel had all played their roles to perfection to set-up the platform for a late surge by their captain.

Although it arrived a little late in the tournament,for Dhoni & Co the timing was just about right. It has been an unusual season for the runners-up of the first edition. While their seven victories so far have been attibuted to their strong batting order,Dhoni,Matthew Hayden and Michael Hussey have all been terribly out-of-form. Chennai therefore have relied on individual performances with the bat to see them through in crucial fixtures.

Hayden’s run in 2010 is a prime example. Last season’s top run-getter lies 15th in the list this time around — sixth in his own team — with only one fifty to his credit. But his 43-ball 93 against Delhi at the Ferozeshah Kotla,single-handedly dragged his side past the victory line.

The lack of runs from the blades of the big names witnessed the rise of Murali Vijay (417) and Raina (461),who have featured consistently in the top run-getters list in IPL III. But they too have struggled to win matches for their side by stitching up partnerships. Vijay’s 127 against Rajasthan at home was one of the better T20 knocks,and in the process set the highest IPL score of 247. But despite his masterclass in power-hitting,Chennai failed to close out the game easily,winning by a margin of just 23 runs. Although Raina and Vijay showed signs of a team firing together during their 143-run unbeaten partnership against Kolkata,the match had been set-up by a single bowling performance by R Ashwin.

At that point,Chennai were second-last on the table,just above bottom side Kings XI Punjab when Kolkata came visiting. Rising to the responsibility of opening the bowling attack in front of his home crowd,Ashwin clamped the opposition for runs,while ripping through the top-order with figures of 3/16 from his four overs. The one-man show helped Chennai leapfrog from seventh on the table to second.

Before Ashwin turned the tide for his team (he currently has 12 wickets from 10 matches) it was a Muttiah Muralitharan show. But the off-spinning duo are yet to click together in a game. In a season that has been pretty much about individual performances for Chennai,the Punjab game witnessed the big names in the batting order pulling their weight together. While Chennai have done exceedingly well to make it this far with one-man-shows,the bowling too will have to fire in unison sooner,rather than later.