Suresh Raina over the moon after CSK qualifies for IPL Final

Yet another IPL final, yet another time Chennai Super Kings is a finalist. It seems to have turned into a trend of the tournament. After winning the Qualifier 1 on Tuesday at the Wankhede Stadium against Sunrisers Hyderabad, the yellow brigade made into their 7th IPL final in the 9 years they have played – an incredible and unmatched record in itself.

The team was out of the IPL for the last couple of years due to the ban. And when they did come back and rebuilt their squad with many of the previous players, people call them the “aged” and “senior” team of the IPL. But as Suresh Raina said aptly in his tweet after clinching the Qualifier match, Chennai Super Kings is back right where they belong – the finals of the IPL.

Raina also praised the star of the match, Faf du Plessis in the tweet. His tweet went: “Nail-biting finish! @faf1307 you beauty! @ChennaiIPL back to where we belong. The finals of the @IPL. Can’t wait for Sunday.”

Nail biting finish! @faf1307 you beauty! @ChennaiIPL back to where we belong. The finals of the @IPL. Can’t wait for Sunday. #IPL2018 pic.twitter.com/lf0y4xQDCa

— Suresh Raina (@ImRaina) May 22, 2018

Restricting Sunrisers Hyderabad within 139, it seemed like the men in yellow would have an easier time to make it to the finals. But once the match started, the mighty batting line-up of CSK was toppled, thanks to the bowling prowess of SRH. After Watson fell in the first over, one by one went Rayadu, Dhoni and Bravo – and the cascade continued. Raina himself stuck around for a while but made not more than 22.

It was opener Faf du Plessis who stayed till the end and took the match home with the final hit over the boundaries. He had some much-needed help in the last couple of overs in the form of Shardul Thakur. His back to back boundaries and a quick 15 from only 5 balls actually made the victory possible.

Faf was the Player of the Match for his 67 from 42 balls. When MS Dhoni was asked about his star opener in the post-match presentation, captain cool said: “That’s where experience counts…”. Guess it is as fitting an answer as one could be to those who were tagging the team as “old and spent away”.

Suresh Raina posted yet another tweet later, a picture with his captain, coach and teammates and called it the “winning selfie”.

#WhistlePodu Winning #Selfi 👌✌️☝️ pic.twitter.com/dQYiGCZSxm

— Suresh Raina (@ImRaina) May 22, 2018

CSK will be awaiting the winner of the second qualifier for the big final on Sunday at Wankhede, Mumbai.

Stay updated on ‘today’s cricket news‘ with CricTracker.com.