Mumbai: Virender Sehwag hit a blazing century to guide Kings XI Punjab to 226/6 against Chennai Super Kings in the Qualifier 2 clash of the Indian Premier League at Wankhede stadium here on Friday. Later, Kings XI bowlers kept the composure despite Suresh Raina’s masterclass of 25-ball 87 to restrict CSK to 202/7 and surge to 24 runs win to book final berth against Kolkata Knight Riders in Bengaluru on Sunday.
Sehwag 122 (58b) scored the fastest century of the tournament in 50 balls, just two days after he was ignored again by the Indian selectors for the tour of Bangladesh and Test series in England.
Sehwag was in murderous mood, striking 12 boundaries and eight sixes, The Delhi dasher took off in the fourth over with two boundaries of Ishwar Pandey. Sehwag then hit three boundaries off Ashish Nehra and continued the carnage in Mohit Sharma’s over as Kings XI raised 70/0 in six overs.
Sehwag reached his hundred in the 16th over and continued to play big shots. David Miller also joined the party (38) as Punjab ended just five runs shy of their top score against the same opposition.
CSK had a jittery start, losing Faf du Plesis (0) in the first over. But Raina meant business, plundering 18 runs in the second over bowled by Sandeep Shamra.
He treated Parwinder Awana and Micthell Johnson with disdain as team fifty came in just 3.5 overs. And before the opponents and spectators could settle down Raina was celebrating the second fastest IPL fifty in just 16 balls. Sharma got rid off Dwayne Smith (7) but Raina was in no mood to consolidate, hitting Awana for 33 runs in the sixth over as CSK made full use of field restrictions, reaching 100/2 with Raina contributing 87 with the help of 12 boundaries and clearing the fence six times.
But first ball after the strategic time-out, Raina was undone by a direct hit from George Bailey. Jadeja tried to break free with a six and four of Karanweer in the 12th over but McCullum (11) was also run out. Jadeja (27) followed in the next over. David Hussey (1) gave easy catch to Sehwag. M.S. Dhoni stayed till the end, scoring unbeaten 42.
