Sunday’s victory for the Super Kings in Chennai against the Rajasthan Royals, ensured that the men in yellow, the most successful team in the history of the Pepsi Indian Premier League (IPL), would be appearing in the semi-finals yet again in 2015.
It maintains their record of having progressed from the qualifying group in each edition of the IPL since its inaugural season in 2008, and are the only team to boast of such a momentous record.
On Tuesday, Cheenai will play their penultimate qualifying game at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium, Raipur against the Delhi Daredevils, who themselves are already eliminated, the third successive season that they have failed to qualify for the last four,
Although Chennai are certain of a place in the knockout stages of the tournament, they still one more win to be absolutely certain of a top two finish, which would put them into the Qualifier, and a chance to progress direct to the final during the knockout phase.
Sunday’s match saw the New Zealand captain, Brendon McCullum, back to his destructive best for the Super Kings, striking 81 from a mere 61 balls, in an innings that included seven fours and four sixes. Those runs lifted McCullum to fourth place in the hunt for the Orange Cap, just 42 runs behind Rahane of the Royals.
The bowlers also played their part, never allowing the visitors to get ahead of the run rate, and with Jadeja delivering four overs for just 11 runs, while taking four wickets, Chennai claimed the vital points.
Although Dwayne Bravo was a little expensive on Sunday, his two wickets took him to the top of the leaderboard with 19 wickets in the chase for the Purple Cap, awarded to the top wicket taker in the tournament.
When the sides met in Match 2 of the 2015 tournament, Chennai won by just one run, the result setting the scene for the rest of the campaign for both teams.