Chennai Super Kings Vs Warriors

Chennai - 136/6 (20 overs)

Hussey - 50(39)

Vijay - 35(27)

Dhoni - 31(21)

Warriors - 128/8 (20 overs)

Jacobs - 32(31)

Krreusch - 25(26)

Boucher - 25(18)

Chennai Super Kings won by 10 runs and qualified for semifinal.

Dhoni: It's an important tournament, coming in as IPL Champs we were expected to do well. There have been a few ups and downs but we've done well as a team. We didn't want to let them get off to a great start. The spinners did well in the middle overs. We got into a tangle with the bat as a result of which we couldn't get runs towards the end. The next game is in Durban, so the quick bowlers will have to do the job for us. The game against RCB in Durban would be fantastic!

Jacobs: I thought we were good with the ball tonight, but not great with the bat. At the start of our campaign, we wanted to make it to the semis, glad that we've made it. Thankfully we had our off day in the league stages, hopefully we will bounce back in the semi-final. The crowd here is always fantastic.

Hussey: I don't think David would be too happy with the result, but yes it was a great game tonight. I wasn't sure what was a good score, we were looking at 150 but in the end 137 proved to be good enough. Dancing isn't my forte, but yes we will celebrate the win.

Mike Hussey is the Man of the Match for his half-century

This game just didn't cease to amaze till the last ball! The Chennai Super Kings have clinched a close game to book a place in the semi-final. Even the most ardent CSK fan would have admitted that defeat was looming large at the half-way mark given the strong line-up of the Warriors, but CSK's bowling unit has lived up to its reputation of being one of the best. They have defended this total with a degree of professionalism. Davey Jacobs started off in his merry way but the spinners pulled it back during the middle overs. Ashwin and Muralitharan put the brakes on the scoring to build the pressure around the Warriors' middle order. Boucher and Kreusch gave them hope with some lusty hits but once they were dismissed, Chennai tightened the screws around the home team to clinch the game. CSK will play RCB in the 1st semi-final on Friday in Durban, while Warriors will take on the Redbacks in the other semi-final on Saturday in Centurion. Stay connected for the presentation.

Wayamba decimate Stags by 74 runs

 Isuru Udana took a hat-trick as the Wayamba Elevens finished their Champions League Twenty20 campaign with a 74-run win over the Central Stags here on Wednesday.

Wayamba could only score 144 for six in their 20 overs but it proved enough as Udana and unorthodox spinner Ajantha Mendis sent the New Zealand team plunging to 16/5. They were all out for 70 in 15.3 overs, the lowest total of the tournament.

The win at St George's Park enabled Wayamba to climb off the bottom of the Group A table. Both teams had lost their first three matches.

The first blow was struck by Mendis who shared the new ball with Udana. Mendis trapped Stags captain Jamie How, the team's leading run-scorer, leg before wicket.

Left-armer Udana, 22, who played for Sri Lanka in the 2009 World Twenty20 in England, deceived Brad Patton with a slower fourth ball of the next over, with the batsman playing too early and popping the ball up in the air for wicketkeeper Kushal Perera to run around to take an easy catch.

Mathew Sinclair over-balanced and was stumped off a leg-side wide and George Worker played down the wrong line to be bowled by a delivery which slanted in to complete the hat-trick.

Udana finished with three for 22 and Mendis with three for 14, while left-arm spinner Rangana Herath had the most economical figures of the tournament, two for seven off four overs.

"We really wanted it today," said Wayamba captain Jehan Mubarak."But there are still a lot of areas we want to work on."

"It was a disastrous batting performance," said How. "We've learned some pretty good lessons and hopefully we'll be back a lot stronger."

Stags take on Wayamba in dead ruber

Port Elizabeth: The penultimate league game of the Champions League would be a meaningless affair between the Central Stags and the Wayamba Elevens, both of whom would look to take some smiles back home by finishing their campaign on a winning note.

With both teams ending as losers on all three previous occasions, one of them will surely end its losing streak.

Both teams have had a lot of chinks in their armours but the Stags look a smarter bet in this face-off as their batsmen have performed better in comparison to Wayamba who rely heavily on Mahela Jayawardene. His failure - apart from a half century in the last match - has added to the Sri Lankan club's woes, with poor fielding and average bowling making the team look pushovers.

All in all, it has been disappointing second outing for Wayamba in the Champions League and with a collapse in the last match, their confidence will be at an all time low when they take the field against Jamie How's team.

New Zealand's fighting spirit is not accustomed to three defeats in three games and this would have surely hurt the Central Stags who would look to set the record straight.

While Stags' batting lineup should stand up against Wayamba's challenge, their bowlers haven't impressed and have been hammered by the oppositions.

Jamie How has been inspirational in batting with two fifties on the trot but support from the bowlers has gone missing on the field, leading to failure in defending decent-looking targets. Against Wayamba, though, there would be some incentive for the Stags' bowling lineup that will be up against batsmen in shambles.

The dead rubber may not set the TRP ratings ablaze but the teams on their part would pull every trick out of their bags to take home something to cheer about.

CSK in do-or-die battle Vs Warriors

Port Elizabeth: It's a three-way battle for the two semi-final spots from Group A of the CL T20 as IPL champions Chennai Super Kings take on South Africa T20 champions Warriors in a must-win game here on Wednesday.

The Warriors with three wins from three matches are atop the points table with a Net Run Rate of +0.975, while the Bushrangers with three wins from four games are in second with a NRR of +0.366. Chennai with two wins from three games are placed third, but they have an enviable NRR of +2.567.

The equation is pretty clear. A win will take Chennai through to the semis, while the Warriors and Bushrangers will battle it out on the NRR depending on how close the game is. However, if the Warriors beat Chennai, they will take the Bushrangers along with them to the last four stage.

Chennai cannot afford to make any mistakes. The loss in the super over in their previous game on Saturday would surely have pushed them on the backfoot, but skipper MS Dhoni's boys will back themselves to come good in Wednesday's game.

Both their batting and bowling have shown their potential in the tournament. Murali Vijay, Suresh Raina, Anirudha Srikkanth and S Badrinath have all found the sweet spot on their bats. The bowling too has been spot on with Doug Bollinger, Albie Morkel, L Balaji, Muttiah Muralitharan and R Ashwin containing runs as well as picking wickets at regular intervals.

Ashwin had an off-day in the last game when he was hit for 23 runs in the super over, but he has been by far among the best performers in this edition of the tournament having taken seven wickets from three games at an economy rate of 6.67.

Chennai won't want to change their combination ahead of the Wednesday's game, except that they will like Morkel to retain full fitness and play ahead of Justin Kemp.

The Warriors, who have won all their three games, will hope that the law of averages does not catch up with them. It surely will be heartbreaking for them to be knocked out of the tournament because of a lesser Net Run Rate.

Skipper Davey Jacobs will again hold the key for the team's batting that has been over-reliant on him. He's played the sheet anchor role to perfection, while Mark Boucher and Ashwell Prince are the other two batsmen who have been among the runs.

Their bowling though is stronger and Chennai's batsmen will have to deal with some serious pace and bounce with the likes of Rusty Theron, Makhya Ntiniand Lonwabo Tsotsobe all in good touch. Their spinners, Johan Botha and Nicky Boje have also been in good form and can slow down the proceedings at will.

This is too close a game to call, but it will go down to the wire for sure.

Pujara Named in Test Squad as Yuvraj misses out

22-year-old batsman Cheteshwar Pujara has been named in India's Test squad to play Australia in two matches in Chandigarh and Bangalore next month.

Yuvraj Singh, who lost his place in the middle order to Suresh Raina on India's recent tour of Sri Lanka, has been omitted from the squad, which also sees quick bowlers Shanthakumaran Sreesanth and Zaheer Khan handed recalls.

Sreesanth missed the tour of Sri Lanka with a knee injury while Zaheer missed out due to a shoulder problem and their return gives the bowling added experience. Their recalls mean there is no place in the squad for Abhimanyu Mithun, who made his debut in Sri Lanka having flown in as a replacement for Zaheer.

Saurashtra batsman Pujara has scored 3,925 runs in 49 first-class matches at an average of 60.38, including an unbeaten 302 against Orissa in the 2008/9 Ranji Trophy, which came as one of three triples in the space of a month - the other two being scored for the Saurashtra Under-22s.

In 2001, he scored 306 not out for Saurashtra Under-14s against Baroda Under-14s.

The contest, which gets underway on 1st October, pits India, the side at the top of the ICC rankings for Test teams, against an Australian side which could only draw 1-1 with Pakistan in England earlier this year.

They begin with a three-day tour match in Chandigarh on Saturday (25th September) and follow the Test series with three One-Day Internationals.

India Test squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Rahul Dravid, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, VVS Laxman, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Cheteshwar Pujara, Suresh Raina, Virender Sehwag, Ishant Sharma, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Sachin Tendulkar, Murali Vijay,

Kholi,White take Bangalore to Semis

Finally, Virat Kohli's second blitzkrieg in a row, supported by Cameron White, helped Bangalore end up on the winning side and prevent absolute dominance of the South African teams, as they edged out the Highveld Lions by 6 wickets on Tuesday to book a place in the semifinals.

Replacing injured Jacques Kallis, Manish Pandey gave Rahul Dravid solid company as Bangalore set off chasing 160 methodically, but a rush of blood from Dravid (33) saw his off-stump dislodged to give Lions their first breakthrough.

Manish Pandey's 44 runs justified his inclusion in place of injured Jacques Kallis but he couldn't convert it into a half century after being splendidly caught at long-off in quest of quick runs. Though two wickets down, Bangalore still had things under control.

However, Ross Taylor's walk back to the pavilion, soon after Pandey's wicket, made things tense for Bangalore and brought the match in balance with required run-rate climbing to nine runs per over.

But Kohli was in no mood for a close finish like the one against Mumbai Indians where he couldn't take his team home despite a cameo. But in that endeavor, he ran Robin Uthappa out.

That, however, made Kohli's effort even more determined in support of Cameron White who seemed to discover some of his lost big-hitting touch.

The duo wasted no time once the win was 25 runs far and spanked those in style to book a place in semis, a first for an IPL team in the Champions League.

Earlier, some lusty blows by Frylinck in the last over took Lions to a competitive target of 159 in 20 overs. Alviro Peterson top scored with 45 while Vinay picked up 2 wickets for 23 runs for Bangalore.

After winning the toss and electing to bat first, Lions openers got off to a confident start before Jonathan Vandiar (11 off 11) nicked the ball down the keeper's throat on the bowling of Vinay Kumar.

Richard Cameron followed Vandiar soon back to pavilion as he was out on the very next ball without troubling the scorers.

Captain Alviro Petersen and middle order batsman Vaughn van Jaarsveld's then played some superb shots all around the park in their partnership of 54 off just 26 balls before Vaughn was run out following a mix-up with skipper.

Alviro Petersen (45 off 29) led from the front scoring at a staggering pace but his counterpart Anil Kumble got the better of him just when Bangalore needed, raising hopes of restricting Lions under 170.

Neil McKenzie then brought his experience into play with a 39 run innings but even that could not take Lions to score of around 175 that they would have hoped to get after electing to bat first.

Steyn and du Preez bowled right at the batsmen's toes to stop them from playing the big shots in the death overs that helped in restricting Lions to just 159/6.

Anil Kumble: We knew that all we needed was one big over, what Virat could not achieve against Mumbai, he did it today. Vinay started off well with the ball, Virat and myself bowled some good middle overs and Steyn bowled well at the death. Very happy that we made it to the semi finals, it is one step away now. It will be nice to meet any team in the semis but it will be nice to meet Chennai there.

Alviro Petersen: Our success must not be measured by where we ended up in the tournament but one should look at the obstacles we overcame. We knew if we can pull the run rate back a bit we were in there. We never gave up and I am proud of my boys. We love this tournament, this is a stepping stone for further things to happen to us.

Virat Kohli: Really happy to be there, nice to get a win. I was really disappointed the other day not being able to take my team to victory. But, it was not the same today. I was sure that we would get one big over, I was waiting for it and we got it in the 17th over. Robin is a good friend, it was my mistake that resulted in him getting run-out. He is a good friend and he will understand.

Virat Kohli is the Man of the Match for his match winning knock of 49 runs off just 29 balls.

Glory today for Bangalore as they became the first IPL team to reach the semi-finals of the CLT20 courtesy this six wicket victory over the Lions. After Dravid and Pandey got the team off to a solid start, Kohli stole the show with some fantastic hitting. The turning point of Bangalore's innings came in the 17th over when they smashed 19 runs of Ethan O'Reilly's last over. Thanks to Kohli's exploits, Bangalore will party hard into the night. Stay tuned for the presentation....

South Australian Redbacks Vs Guyana

SAUS - 191/6 (20 overs)
Callum Ferquson - 55(37)
Cameron Borqas - 48(36)


Guyana - 176/7 (20overs)
Ramnaresh Sarwan - 70(46)
Richard Ramdeen - 35(22)


South Australian Redbacks won by 15 runs.

Klinger: We batted well in the middle overs. I am proud of the guys as we achieved four out of four wins. Tait is valuable to any bowling attack in the world but he will be back for the semi-finals. I thought that our fielding was a bit sloppy today and we need to work on that. We need to get the little things right before the semi finals, mostly in the fielding and in the running between the wickets.

Sarwan: We showed today that we are a capable side. The wicket was similar to the one in the Caribbean but it had a bit more bounce. We need to play with a clear mind and we need to apply ourselves. The youngsters were really impressive today and they grabbed their opportunities with both hands.

Callum Ferguson: The conditions were beautiful for batting. We did not get off to a great start, but I and Borgas decided that we have to step up and steer the team to safety. We are delighted that the middle order has got some runs. The top order has done a great job in the earlier matches. We feel that we are ready to go.

Callum Ferguson is the MoM for his knock of 55 off 37 balls

It has been a spirited reply from Guyana but they fell short by 15 runs. Sarwan and Steven Jacobs got things going for Guyana with a 56 run stand after the South Australia bowlers kept a tight check on the scoring rate. Guyana will be ruing the fact that their bowlers leaked 66 runs in the last five overs which made all the difference. Sarwan made a brilliant 70 but he did not have any kind of support from the other batsmen. In the end, South Australia top the group with four out of four wins, while Guyana go home empty handed. Stay tuned for the presentation...