In a battle of nerves that went right down to the wire, Punjab Kings rode a late assault to stun Chennai Super Kings, winning by four wickets in their IPL match at Chennai on Sunday after Sikandar Raza ran probably the quickest three runs of his life.
CSK looked like ticking all the boxes on a slow Chepauk pitch, winning the toss and putting up 200 before deploying spinners who put the brakes on the visitors’ stroke players. Going at over 10 per over till the Powerplay, Punjab Kings slowed down in the middle overs till they were required to score 72 from 30 balls. This is where the wheels started to turn.
Liam Livingstone kickstarted the slog overs with three sixes off Tushar Deshpande till a tennis smash off a bouncer was brilliantly caught by Ruturaj Gaikwad at deep midwicket. Jitesh Sharma joined in the mayhem, launching Ravindra Jadeja over long-on for six before scoring two fours. Raza edged a wide full toss for a streaky boundary first ball of his innings before Matheesha Pathirana was tasked to defend nine in the last over. Evolving into one of the best slog overs bowlers in this IPL, Pathirana didn’t concede a boundary and Punjab Kings needed three off the last ball. Pathirana bowled a slower ball wide of Raza but he anticipated it, moved across the stumps and pulled it over square leg. Three fielders converged on it, but by then Raza had run down the target.
Chennai reached exactly 200, making it the 27th time they have finished with 200 or more—the most among all teams. It also consigned Punjab Kings to the ignominy of conceding 200 or more the 25th time, also the most among all IPL teams. CSK has been churning 200-plus scores pretty effortlessly this season, largely due to the opening stands between Devon Conway and Ruturaj Gaikwad. But to get 200 at Chepauk is not the same as scoring it elsewhere, especially in an afternoon game. “It was a little bit slow at the beginning when the bowlers hit the hard length,” said Conway, whose unbeaten 92 was his fifth half-century of this IPL (52b, 16x4, 1x6).
{{/usCountry}}Chennai reached exactly 200, making it the 27th time they have finished with 200 or more—the most among all teams. It also consigned Punjab Kings to the ignominy of conceding 200 or more the 25th time, also the most among all IPL teams. CSK has been churning 200-plus scores pretty effortlessly this season, largely due to the opening stands between Devon Conway and Ruturaj Gaikwad. But to get 200 at Chepauk is not the same as scoring it elsewhere, especially in an afternoon game. “It was a little bit slow at the beginning when the bowlers hit the hard length,” said Conway, whose unbeaten 92 was his fifth half-century of this IPL (52b, 16x4, 1x6).
{{/usCountry}}Conway and Gaikwad (37) adjusted well though, using the pace of Kagiso Rabada and Sam Curran to find boundaries in an 86-run opening stand, the fourth fifty-plus partnership for them. Shivam Dube came in just when Punjab’s spinners were taking over, straightaway hammering Sikandar Raza for a huge six. From being the aggressor in the initial overs, Conway graduated to being an anchor in the middle overs, allowing Dube and then Moeen Ali to not hold back. But it was again Dhoni who scripted the finish, smoking Sam Curran for back-to-back sixes off the last two balls of the innings.