We've got momentum now, says star Raina

Chennai Super Kings' batting star and vice-captain Suresh Raina believes last night's win over table toppers Mumbai Indians would give his side the necessary fuel to go the distance in the third edition of the Indian Premier League.

"I am happy that we have struck momentum. Having won three matches in a row, we are in a good position to reach the semi-finals. But we want to keep this streak going, and we have a few big matches coming up. All of them are do-or-die matches," said Raina. The southpaw scored 23 off 18 balls coming in at No 3.

Last night's victory was Chennai's fifth win in 10 games. It was sweet revenge too since Mumbai had beaten them at the Brabourne Stadium on March 25.

Raina was delighted for his on-song batting line-up. "Murali Vijay has been batting well. Matthew Hayden has been reasonably good. S Badrinath and Michael Hussey made valuable contributions and the skipper's knock was equally important," he said.

But yesterday, the bowlers and fielders deserved to walk away with the credit. "Everyone bowled well today. I think 190 is a defendable total, but 150-160 is tough to defend. In such a scenario we need to field well, and today we fielded exceptionally,"
Raina stressed.