One day after Brendon McCullum set the stage alight on an inaugural night for the Kolkata Knights Riders, it was the turn of the Aussies to steal the show in IPL 2008. In the afternoon match on the second day (19th April 2008), Michael Hussey raced to a T20 century with raking up a colossal total for the team in yellow. KXIP chasing at home tried their best in coming near the target but it was too much at the end for them.

Playing at the PCA Stadium, Mohali, Captaining in yellow MS Dhoni won the toss and chose to bat first as he wanted to out the scoreboard pressure on the chasing team. The ploy seemed to fail when Brett Lee knocked Parthiv Patel who braved walking out the speedster. Matthew Hayden’s cameo was ended by Irfan Pathan as CSK found themselves at 57/2 in the 6th over.

The most expensive player of the IPL walked in next. MS Dhoni disappointed the fans as he soon walked back with only 2(3) but the replays suggested his lbw decision was wrong. Suresh Raina and Michael Hussey now began the show with the ball flying all around the stadium.

The dynamic duo added 64 runs in only 30 balls. Suresh Raina went back after a stormy 32(13) with two boundaries and three sixes. It was Hussey’s show after that as well. The left-handed Australian cruised to 116 off 54 balls with 8 boundaries and 9 sixes. The late surge was helped on by S.Badrinath’s 34 off 14 balls. Chennai ended up with a mountain of 240/5 runs in their 20 overs.

The chase required heavy attack from Punjab’s artillery and it was duly provided. Another Australian stepped up, James Hopes took on the Chennai bowling and began with a blistering knock of 71 runs in just 33 balls with 10 fours and three sixes. When he was dismissed, KXIP needed 130 in 58 balls.

Yuvraj Singh and Kumar Sangakkara tried their best at giving it a go but the effort was not enough. It was just a formality when the game neared the death stage. Sangakkara’s wicket 54(33) in the 18th over ended Punjab’s resistance. CSK won the match by 33 runs.