Balaji shines with a hat-trick in Chennai Super Kings' win

Laxmipati Balaji registered first hat-trick of the Indian Premier League to help Chennai Super Kings assert their supremacy over Kings XI Punjab and beat them by 18 runs in Chennai on Saturday.
Balaji claimed five wickets, including a hat-trick in the last over of the match, and gave away just 24 runs in his four overs to seal his team's victory.
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This was second successive win for the hosts over the Punjab team as they had beaten them in the away tie early in the tournament.
Put in to bat, the Chennai team piled up a competitive 181 for four, thanks to superb batting by S Badrinath and Mahendra Singh Dhoni [Images], and then restricted the visitors to 163 for nine in their quota of 20 overs.
Balaji provided crucial breakthroughs early and then got his hat-trick in the last over, in which the visitors required 27 runs for the victory.
Opener Shaun Marsh (58) hit a blazing half-century but that was not enough to earn a revenge victory for his team as other batsmen let the visitors down.
Marsh's innings came off just 38-balls with three boundaries and four sixes including a towering one, which landed on the roof of the stadium, off Muttiah Muralitharan.
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Like their opponents, the Punjab team also had a bad start losing two early wickets with James Hopes (14) and Karan Goel (1) departing early.
Marsh and Ramnaresh Sarwan [Images] (20) did try to bring their team back in the match as they put together 64 runs for the third wicket. But Balaji, star bowler for the hosts, removed both of them in one over to deal sever blow to the visitors hope.
More disaster was waiting for the Punjab team as skipper Yuvraj Singh [Images] (2) too started his walk back to pavilion after he found Stephen Fleming [Images] off P Amarnath at point.
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The visitors lost three wickets in space of seven deliveries and that wrote the fate of the Punjab team.
Irfan Pathan [Images] (40 not out) and Piyush Chawla (17) hit some lusty shots towards the end but that just helped in reducing the defeat margin.
Earlier, Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (60 not out) and S Badrinath (64) hit half-centuries to help Chennai Super Kings set a challenging target.
The hosts overcame two early jolts to pile up 181 for four with Badrinath figuring in two crucial partnerships to lift his teams from the pits.
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He first shared a 44-run stand for the third wicket with Suresh Raina and then joined hands with Dhoni to weave a 91-run partnership for the fourth wicket to take his team to a competitive total.
Bardrinath's knock came off 47 balls and was adorned with six boundaries and three shots over the ropes.
Dhoni's consumed 43-balls for his unbeaten innings, which was studded with two fours and four sixes.
At one stage, it looked the hosts would easily go past the 200-run mark but a disciplined bowling by pacemen S Sreesanth [Images] and James Hopes at death restricted the Chennai team to am achievable target.
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Paceman Sreesanth (2/29) had given a perfect start to the visitors by getting rid of S Vidut (8) and former Kiwi skipper Stephen Flemimg (1) inside first three overs.
The Keralite had Vidut caught at first slip Mahela Jayawardene [Images] in the very first after over after being hit for two consecutive boundaries.
He then sent packing Fleming when the New Zealander drove him uppishly only to find Karan Goel at covers.
Leg-spinner Piyush Chawla broke the third-wicket partnership but was hit mercilessly by rival skipper MS Dhoni forcing Yuuvraj Singh to take him off the attack.