It was heartening to see the Chennai crowd get full value for their money. Everyone who had descended on the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium would have left satisfied. More than 400 runs and a result in favour of the home side, and the spectators could not have asked for more. There have been a few high scoring games in the IPL so far, but nothing comes close to this in terms of excitement provided.

Whatever the format, the match stressed the importance of partnerships. Super Kings prospered on this count while the visitors failed to get a decent stand at the top, and that contributed to their loss. Mathew Hayden and Suresh Raina played a pivotal role in the win no doubt but what made the difference was Hayden's approach. The Australian was content giving the strike to Raina. It is not often we see a senior partner do this but to Hayden's credit he allowed Raina to flower in the partnership. It is important in Twenty20 for both batsmen to maintain momentum and that is precisely what the duo did.

Just as Super Kings were helped by big runs at the top, the Mumbai Indians were let down by the lack of a sound start and the inability to put together a big partnership cost them dear. The stands Abhishek Nayyar shared with Dwayne Bravo first and later with Harbhajan Singh would have put the Super Kings' hearts in their mouth. If they had taken better advantage of the field restrictions earlier it would well have been a different story. Losing wickets at regular intervals did not help their cause either.

Harbhajan Singh missed a few tricks with his captaincy. Shaun Pollock and the skipper himself were the two most experienced bowlers in the team and why they did not bowl their full quota is anybody's guess. The off-spinner did not do badly in the first two overs and Pollock with his experience could have done better in the death. The runs Chennai managed in the last five overs proved crucial.

The hosts too, did not get their act together with the ball. P. Amarnath and Jacob Oram let the pressure get to them. But Manpreet Gony was outstanding. Extracting bounce off the surface he made life disconcerting for the openers. His tight spell during the power play was the one that won the game for the Kings.

Gony's maturity was striking. He never allowed width outside the off-stump to Sanath Jayasuriya. Bowlers with far better experience and pedigree have failed to contain the Sri Lankan but to Gony's credit he came away unscathed.

Bowling continues to be one area where the Kings continue to be thin. The entry of Makhaya Nitini and Morne Morkel should alter that a fair deal.

It was an improved effort in the field without doubt and credit to S. Badrinath to have held the catch off Harbhajan under pressure and for the run-out early on in the innings.