Chennai, May 10:There were doubts about his fitness, and when he was picked in the Chennai Super Kings squad, many were surprised. Laxmipathy Balaji had last played for India in August, 2005. A career-threatening injury had put him completely out of action.

But today, playing only his second game in the tournament, he astounded everyone with a five-wicket haul, including a hat-trick, the Indian Premier League’s first, as Chennai beat Kings XI Punjab by 18 runs. Balaji’s triple treat came in the last over of the match, off which the Mohali team needed an unlikely 27 runs. Pathan hit a six off the first ball, a low full-toss, but could only manage a single off the second.

Piyush Chawla pulled the third straight down deep square-leg’s throat, while VRV Singh’s premeditated pull off a misdirected leg-cutter ballooned to skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Three in three, and figures of 4-0-24-5 saw Balaji walking away with the Man of the Match award.

Until the final few overs, Mohali had seemed to keep up with the chase, especially when Shaun Marsh was going along at one end with Ramnaresh Sarwan holding up the other. Balaji snared both Sarwan and Marsh in quick succession, and things went downhill from there.

Badri joins the party

The Man of the Match award Balaji got might just have gone to another man had the medium-pacer not performed those last-minute pyrotechnics. Not many can question Subramanium Badrinath’s record in domestic cricket. He has excelled at every opportunity for Tamil Nadu and India A. And yet he has always missed the Indian team bus.

Last winter, he was drafted into the Indian ODI team against Australia at home after Gautam Gambhir was injured, but he was summarily dismissed without being given a chance in the eleven.

From a batsman known to take his time settling down, he played quite a blinder. In front of a jam-packed crowd, he made a striking statement — that he could match most players stroke for stroke. His 47-ball 64 propelled the Super Kings to 181 for four after a shaky start.

He walked in at 20 for 2, took a few balls to settle down and then unleashed a flurry of shots. He hit Sreesanth for two consecutive fours, one over mid-wicket and the second over the bowler’s head. Then, he hit VRV Singh over mid-wicket for a six off a free-hit. The intent was clear and he never looked back.

Badrinath’s knock ended when he found Yuvraj Singh at cover while attempting to hit Singh’s yorker over cover. With Dhoni (60 not out), he put on 91 runs for the fourth wicket in 10.4 overs to give stability and impetus to the innings. Whether the knock changes the perception of his critics is yet to be seen, but he can at least hope to find a supporter in Dhoni.

Match Corner

Chennai Super Kings

S Vidyut c Jayawardene b Sreesanth (4b, 2x4, 0x6) 8

S Fleming c Goel b Sreesanth (4b, 0x4, 0x6) 1

S Raina c Marsh b Chawla (17b, 4x4, 0x6) 26

S Badrinath c Yuvraj Singh b Singh (47b, 6x4, 3x6) 64

MS Dhoni not out (43b, 2x4, 4x6) 60

A Morkel not out (6b, 0x4, 0x4) 7

Extras (lb-4, w-10, nb-1): 15

Total (4 wickets; 20 overs): 181

FoW: 1-10, 2-20, 3-64, 4-155

Bowling: S Sreesanth 4-0-29-2, I Pathan 4-0-33-0, VRV Singh 4-0-35-1, P Chawla 3-0-36-1, J Hopes 4-0-36-0,

Yuvraj Singh 1-0-8-0.

Kings XI punjab

S Marsh c Amarnath b Balaji (38b, 3x4, 4x6) 58

J Hopes c Dhoni b Morkel (7b, 1x4, 1x6) 14

K Goel c Morkel b Gony (7b, 0x4, 0x6) 1

R Sarwan b Balaji (22b, 0x4, 0x6) 20

Yuvraj Singh c Fleming b Amarnath (5b, 0x4, 0x6) 2

M Jayawardene c Vidyut b Muralitharan (6b, 0x4, 1x6) 8

I Pathan c Raina b Balaji (18b, 3x4, 3x6) 40

P Chawla c Kapugedera b Balaji (15b, 1x4, 1x6) 17

VRV Singh c Dhoni b Balaji (1b, 0x4, 0x6) 0

U Kaul not out (1b, 0x4, 0x6) 0

Extras (lb-1, w-2): 3

Total (9 wickets; 20 overs): 163

FoW: 1-16, 2-29, 3-95, 4-96, 5-97, 6-115, 7-163, 8-163, 9-163

Bowling: M Gony 4-0-38-1, A Morkel 4-0-25-1, P Amarnath 3-0-35-1, C Kapugedera 1-0-8-0, M Muralitharan 4-0-32-1, L Balaji 4-0-24-5

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