Chennai crush Bangalore to enter Champions League final

Powered by a fiery knock of 94 by Suresh Raina, the Super Kings beat the Royal Challengers by 52 runs in a rain-curtailed semi-final in South Africa.

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Suresh Raina slammed an unbeaten 94 off 48 balls as the Chennai Super Kings stormed past the Royal Challengers in the Champions League Twenty20 semi-final at Kingsmead on Friday.

Raina propelled Chennai to 174 for four after rain reduced the match to 17 overs a side.
Facing an adjusted target of 176, Bangalore crumbled to 123 all out after losing their first three wickets for 12 runs. Chennai won by 52 runs according to the Duckworth/Lewis method.

Chennai will meet the winners of Saturday's second semi-final between the South Australian Redbacks and the Eastern Cape Warriors in Centurion. The final is in Johannesburg on Sunday.

The left-handed Raina hit six sixes and five fours as he made the highest score of the tournament. Raina took advantage of a weakened Bangalore attack after fast bowler Dale Steyn was injured while taking a catch to dismiss Mike Hussey.

Steyn ran backwards at speed after Hussey hit the ball over mid-off. He jumped to take the catch but landed heavily on his back and his head banged into the turf. He had to go to hospital to be checked for back and head damage.

Steyn had been expected to be a key bowler for Bangalore on a pitch which suited fast bowling. Faced with a daunting target, Bangalore's hopes were snuffed out by Chennai opening bowlers Albie Morkel and Doug Bollinger, who dismissed first three batsmen within the first 3.3 overs.

The overs were reduced after a rain break of two-and-a-half hours when Chennai were 15 for one after 2.5 overs.

* AFP

Scoreboard
Chennai Super Kings
Mike Hussey c Steyn b Vinay Kumar 6
Murali Vijay c Kohli b Vinay Kumar 41
Suresh Raina not out 94
Mahendra Singh Dhoni b du Preez 11
Albie Morkel c Kohli b White 5
Srikkanth Anirudha not out 0
Extras: (4b 8lb 2w, 3nb) 17
Total: (for four wickets, 17 overs) 174
Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-100, 3-133, 4-170.
Bowling: Praveen Kumar 3-0-23-0, Vinay Kumar 4-0-28-2, Virat Kohli 1-0-15-0, Anil Kumble 4-0-38-0 (1nb), Dillon du Preez 3-0-32-1, Cameron White 2-0-26-1 (2nb, 2w).

Royal Challengers Bangalore
Manish Pandey b Bollinger 52
Rahul Dravid c Morkel b Bollinger 0
Robin Uthappa c Vijay b Morkel 4
Ross Taylor c Vijay b Bollinger 4
Virat Kohli c Ashwin b Balaji 14
Cameron White c Anirudha b Muralitharan 13
Dillon du Preez run out (Ashwin) 1
Praveen Kumar c Morkel b Muralitharan 15
Vinay Kumar c Anirudha b Ashwin 9
Anil Kumble not out 1
Dale Steyn absent hurt
Extras: (10w) 10
Total: (all out, 16.2 overs) 123
Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-7, 3-12, 4-37, 5-67, 6-84, 7-104, 8-114, 9-123.
Bowling: Albie Morkel 3-0-13-1, Doug Bollinger 3-0-27-3 (1w), Lakshmipathy Balaji 3-0-13-1 (2w), Ravichandran Ashwin 3.2-0-32-1 (1w), Muttiah Muralitharan 4-0-38-2 (2w).
Chennai won by 52 runs on D/L method.