The moment the toss went his way, Ravindra Jadeja flashed a grin and even before being asked, announced his decision to bowl. After two lost tosses and matches, the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain was happy. Even that change in luck couldn’t get the holders off the mark this IPL as they lost to Punjab Kings by 54 runs on Sunday. It was their second win in three games.
What CSK would have hoped chasing Punjab’s 180/8 was the dew, which has dictated results so far in Mumbai games, to kick in. But as their pacer Chris Jordan revealed mid-innings, it was a “lot less” at the Brabourne Stadium.
Dew or not, it doesn’t help when a side is 27/4 after the powerplay. Kagiso Rabada and Himachal's Vaibhav Arora not only found swing but also the outside edge of Ruturaj Gaikwad (caught at slip), and the top edge of Robin Uthappa playing across the line. Moeen Ali and Jadeja played on to the stumps while Ambati Rayudu gloved a short one to wicket-keeper Jitesh Sharma two overs later.
At 53/5 in 10 overs, it needed MS Dhoni to pull out the magic wand from his days of yore. In typical style, Dhoni tried taking the chase deep—he was 10 off 20 after the 14th over—but the finishing touch never came as he was out in the 18th over for 23. It meant Shivam Dube’s (57, 30b) going hard didn’t help.
It was a drab end after an action-packed start. Punjab lost two wickets in eight balls to a pattern: boundary and out. Skipper Mayank Agarwal flashed uppishly at a wide one by Mukesh Choudhary to cover after a four while Bhanuka Rajapaksa’s six was followed by his run out. Dhoni’s quick thinking—and feet—in charging to the stumps and redirecting the ball to it after bowler Jordan couldn’t hit.
{{/usCountry}}It was a drab end after an action-packed start. Punjab lost two wickets in eight balls to a pattern: boundary and out. Skipper Mayank Agarwal flashed uppishly at a wide one by Mukesh Choudhary to cover after a four while Bhanuka Rajapaksa’s six was followed by his run out. Dhoni’s quick thinking—and feet—in charging to the stumps and redirecting the ball to it after bowler Jordan couldn’t hit.
{{/usCountry}}Liam Livingstone (60, 32b) was bludgeoning it long, though. The Englishman took 26 runs from left-armer Choudhary’s third over that had two sixes—and three fours. Punjab raced to 72 in six overs, and three balls later Livingstone, on 45, saw Rayudu drop him at short third man. It just cost 15 as Livingstone was caught by Rayudu at the same spot edging Jadeja.
Four balls earlier, at the halfway mark, Shikhar Dhawan (33, 24b) had gone, when Punjab were going at 11 an over. The twin strikes checked the run leak, and CSK squeezed it further through clever bowling by Dwaine Pretorius and Jordan. Punjab added only 71 runs in the second half as save Sharma (26, 17b), none could carry the momentum.