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IPL 2020: Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis fire, CSK bounce back with 10-wicket win against KXIP
IPL 2020: Chennai Super Kings beat Kings XI Punjab by 10 wickets to bring their Indian Premier League campaign back on track. Faf du Plessis and Shane Watson slammed unbeaten half-centuries after CSK restricted KXIP to 178/4.
Being the leading performer of a team comes with its set of challenges. KL Rahul is realising it fast. He is not just the captain of Kings XI Punjab, but also the IPL’s leading scorer and the team’s first-choice wicketkeeper too.
With so many hats to wear, the pressure is clearly on Rahul to come up trumps every single time. In a batting line-up, which with the exception of Mayank Agarwal is yet to fire in unison consistently, the tall opener seems to have assigned himself a sheet anchor’s role to last till the end and give KXIP’s score a fillip in the late overs. Sometimes that may backfire, like it looked to have on Sunday against Chennai Super Kings.
IPL 2020, CSK vs KXIP full highlights
Till the 14th over, he almost played almost a run-a-ball innings to reach 46 runs off 44 balls. KXIP were 114/2 then. In the next over, Rahul did reach his 18th half-century, 14 of those have been scored in three seasons starting from 2018, with a huge six over long-off against Shardul Thakur and then showed intent with two straight fours. But the next over, the CSK medium pacer bowled, Rahul edged to MS Dhoni. More than two overs remained then and KXIP lost their set batsman on 63 with the scoreboard reading 152/4.
On a day, when the KXIP batsmen did provide some crucial support with cameos from Nicholas Pooran (33, 17b), Mandeep Singh (27, 16b), Agarwal (26, 19b) and some smart finish from Glenn Maxwell-Sarfaraz Khan, Rahul ended up having the lowest strike-rate among all. It can be argued that he was saving himself till the last, but it also meant he wasted quite a few balls in the process as KXIP reached 178/4 in 20 overs.
CSK’s comeback
Rahul’s dismissal gave CSK the momentum. They carried it into their chase with openers Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis leading their team back to the winning track after three straight losses. The duo scored a half-century each as CSK reached the target with 14 balls to spare. Their opening stand of 181 is also the highest against KXIP, surpassing 147 by Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli in Bengaluru in 2016.
The win came as a welcome relief for the MS Dhoni-led side that has been criticised for their slow approach at the beginning. There were question marks on their fitness as well as their ability to chase. All those questions would surely stop for now, after the authority shown by Watson and du Plessis over the KXIP bowlers. With 60 runs scored in the powerplay, the opening combine broke the rhythm of the opposition early. KXIP never recovered from that shock.
Rahul may realise some extra runs could have provided his bowlers that cushion. For a bowling line-up that has the worst economy of 16 RPO in the last five overs, extra help always matters.
After R Ashwin’s departure from KXIP, Rahul was always destined to lead the side. His position is assured now and he has repaid the faith. But rather than putting too much pressure on himself, Rahul would do better to get some of his destructive batting style back into play. KXIP is a top heavy side with a bowling that has often wavered. So the captain needs a different approach to pull his side out of the last spot that it finds itself in after Sunday’s loss to CSK.
