Chennai Super Kings March Into The Finals

Doug Bollinger was the hero as he broke the spine of the Deccan Chargers batting.

Chennai Super Kings beat the defending champions by 38 runs in the second semifinal of the Indian Premier League tonight to set up a clash with Mumbai Indians on Sunday.

For the Chargers, Ryan Harris bowled a fine initial spell to get rid off openers Murali Vijay and Mathew Hayden cheaply and finished with excellent figures of three for 29. Useful knocks from Badrinath, Dhoni and Anirudha Srikhant helped CSK reach a very respectable 142.

The Super Kings returned to defend the total with all their might and resource, skittling out their opponents for 104 in 19.2 overs and dashing Deccan Chargers' hopes of a successful title defense.

For Chennai, Bollinger (4/13) stood out, having rocked the Deccan top order and then dropping curtains on the opponent's innings with his tidy four overs.

Left-arm spinner Shadab Jakati also chipped in with two crucial wickets to hasten Deccan's fall.

Chasing a modest target, the Chargers were never in the game as they lost wickets at regular intervals and their listless batting could be gauged from the fact that Andrew Symonds top scored them with a 22-ball 23.