Chennai break 200-barrier in big win

Chennai Superstars 205 for 7 (Vignesh 88, van der Wath 3-24) beat Mumbai Champs 130 for 5 (Astle 68*) by 75 runs
Scorecard

The clash between tournament leaders Chennai Superstars and bottom-placed Mumbai Champs was a mismatch on paper and it translated into exactly that at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium. Chennai scored this season's first total in excess of 200 and then restricted Mumbai to 130 for 5. The 75-run margin of victory was the league's largest in terms of runs.

Chennai rested Ian Harvey but their other opener G Vignesh made up for his absence by blasting 88 off 53 balls to lead his team to 205 for 7. Vignesh had two close calls in the first three overs but he hit the ball so hard that the catches were nearly impossible to take. Thereafter he laid into the Mumbai attack, hitting Michael Kasprowicz for a hat-trick of sixes: the first was pulled over midwicket off the final ball of the third over and the next two were carved over backward point off the first two balls of the fifth. In between those powerful strikes, Vignesh lofted Anupam Sanklecha over the long-on boundary and then drove him through extra cover.

Vignesh had powered Chennai to 59 in 5.4 overs before he lost his opening partner C Hemanth Kumar for 12 to Johan van der Wath. Chennai lost Russel Arnold and Hemang Badani, to van der Wath again, in quick succession but Vignesh's attitude didn't change. He hit seven fours and five sixes in his 88 before he was bowled by Avinash Yadav in the 17th over.

Chennai were only 148 when Vignesh fell and the propulsion towards 200 came from their captain Stuart Law who smashed 29 off 11 balls with three sixes. They took 24 runs off the final over which was bowled by Michael Kasprowicz.

An asking-rate of more that ten an over was too much for Mumbai to achieve especially against experienced bowlers such as Shabbir Ahmed and Nantie Hayward. Both of them struck early for Chennai, dismissing Dheeraj Jadhav and Nikhil Mandale, and kept the run-rate under control.

Nathan Astle, the Mumbai captain, played a steady innings but the situation required an exceptional display of hitting. None of the other batsmen gave Astle any support and he remained unbeaten on 68 off 61 balls. Mumbai finished their innings on 130 for 6 but the game was over as a contest long before the final ball was bowled.