Chennai now needed one of Suresh Raina or MS Dhoni to play big, for them to come anywhere close to making it to the final four. Raina begun well and alongside Subramaniam Badrinath took his side to 49 runs after powerplay. The two further opened up after the powerplay overs and the next three overs went for 37 runs.

Seeing that nothing is working for him, Sangakkara turned to his best bowler in the tournament thus far. Juan Theron was brought in the attack and he immediately delivered removing Raina after the left-hander had scored a free flowing 46 of 27 deliveries.

Badrinath took on from there and Juan Theron who had thus far looked a really difficult bowler to hit was smacked for 14 runs in his second over. Chennai were fighting and fighting hard. MS Dhoni also started to get into the act and alongside Badri scored some quick runs.

The side needed 52 off the last four overs and Chawla was brought into the attack. After hitting him for 7 runs in the first three balls, the bowler struck back to get Badri stumped out.

Albie Morkel and Dhoni then took over and after the eighteenth over, the tourists needed 29 to win the last two. Theron was brought in for the penultimate over and he was greeted by two consecutive boundaries off his first two balls. They finished with thirteen runs in the over with 16 to win in the last over.

Irfan who was brought on to bowl the final over went for a boundary of his first ball. Then came the big moment when Chawla dropped a difficult chance from Dhoni who finished the game in the next two balls with two huge sixes, both of them out of the ground.

Earlier in the afternoon, Opting to field first after winning the toss, Chennai didnt start off well with Punjab opener Mahela Jayawardene going after Sudeep Tyagi in the very first over. He hit the right-arm seamer for two sixes and the first over went for 15 runs.

Jayawardene continued to attack before being dismissed, caught brilliantly by Tyagi while trying to hit one over the top of mid-off.

The acceleration though continued unabated as Kumar Sangakkara and Shaun Marsh hit regular boundaries. Marsh was also aided by a chance when Albie Morkel dropped a sitter at short fine-leg. The two made Punjab had 86 on the board after 10 overs, having lost just one wicket.

Immediately after the strategic time-out, Ravichandra Ashwin struck to dismiss the Punjab skipper Sangakkara. Then Suresh Raina in the next over sent back Yuvraj Singh. The southpaw has failed disastrously in the tournament and today he had a good chance to score a few, considering the true nature of the surface.

On the other-end Marsh continued to play his shots and score freely. He welcomed Shadab Jakati to the bowling crease with a huge six and a boundary in his first over. He brought up his 50 in the next over, smacking Raina for a huge six over long-on. Runs continued to flow through his bat as Punjab had 131 runs after 15 overs, having lost three wickets.

Irfan Pathan joined him in the carnage, hitting Ashwin for a cross-batted boundary in the off-spinner's last over. The two raised their 50-run stand in just 26 balls and continued to bat in rollicking fashion. Even the good-till-now Bollinger was not spared as the duo hit the left-arm seamer for 17 runs in the penultimate over, this included two sixes from Marsh's willow. Then it was Morkel's turn to face the music. The medium pacer was taken for 16 runs in the final over of the innings and with it Punjab finished their innings at 192 for the loss of three wickets.