Trick and treat for Chennai

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.

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.

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