IPL action continued in Mumbai today with the second semi-final. Yuvraj Singh’s Punjab Kings’ XI finished second in the league, and were favorites to go on to the finals, but against them were MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings. You may remember that the Super Kings had a superb start to the season, thanks in no small part to their Australian batsmen, Matty Hayden and Michael Hussey. When the Aussies had to leave for their tour of the West Indies Chennai faltered, and barely made the semi-finals, but there they were. And they were also secure in the knowledge that they had beaten the Punjab side twice in the regular season.

The Kings’ XI has one of the best batting line-ups in the competition. They have Shaun Marsh, who has made the most runs in the season by quite a long way. They have Sangakkara and Jayawardene, who rank 6th and 8th in the world respectively. When Yuvraj won the toss, of course he opted to bat. Disaster followed.

Interviewed in the innings break, Makhaya Ntini said that his side had watched the Royals bowl yesterday and decided that the same tactics would work for them. The plan worked perfectly. After 10 overs, Punjab were 45-6 and all of their top batsmen were back in the dugout. Ntini, Manpreet Gony, Albie Morkel and, of course, Murali, all did their part. The Kings’ XI were only able to muster 112 runs. Did someone say that this was a batman’s game?

The only hope for Yuvraj was that his bowlers would manage similar heroism, but it was not to be. Sreesanth, who surely should have been Punjab’s main strike weapon, was taken off after only one over and never bowled again. The Chennai batsmen had plenty of time to play themselves in, and in the end they coasted to a 9-wicket victory with both Patel and Raina making 50s. All Dhoni had to do was sit in the dugout and look smug every time a camera came near.

So tomorrow will be a surprise for the Royals. They must have been expecting the face Punjab. Playing Chennai will be an interesting challenge. Of all Indian cricketers, only Tendulkar is more popular than MS Dhoni. There’s little doubt which team the Mumbai crowd will be supporting, and a poll on the official IPL web site has around 60% of respondents predicting a Chennai win. But the Royals are secure in the knowledge that they have beaten the Super Kings twice already, and therefore will be able to do so again.

Tomorrow’s action moves from the Wankhede Stadium to the brand new 60,000 seat Dr DY Patil Sports Academy – Mumbai, you may recall, has several major cricket grounds – so neither team will be able to read the pitch from what happened in the semi-finals. The Royals have had a day off, which will doubtless be useful, but the Chennai team are most definitely on a roll. Ntini in particular looks seriously hyped up, and he’s no doubt looking forward to an opportunity to aim a few balls at Graeme Smith’s head, all in a friendly, South African team-mate sort of way. I, of course, am hoping that the Royals walk it, but for the rest of you I hope that it is a superb match.