The MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai played host to the much-hyped battle between Chennai Super Kings and Punjab Kings and the home team left their supporters disappointed as they recorded a heart-wrenching defeat by four wickets against Shikhar Dhawan’s men.
Chennai Super Kings and Punjab Kings locked horns with each other for the first time in the 2023 edition of the Indian Premier League and the latter were successful in clocking a victory by four wickets at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
The win was crucial for the Mohali-based franchise as they both now have ten points as the Super Kings in the points tally. Owing to the difference in the net run rate, MS Dhoni’s men are in fourth place while PBKS are occupying the fifth position.
The high-scoring battle of cricket between the two good performers of IPL 2023 witnessed the toss going in the favor of the host skipper MS Dhoni. Opting to bat first, Chennai Super Kings flaunted their batting talent as they were successful in posting a score of 200 runs after losing only four wickets in their allotted 20 overs. The opening pair of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway again worked their charm as they stitched a crucial partnership of 86 runs.
Zimbabwe’s Sikandar Raza gave the much-needed breakthrough to Punjab Kings on the second ball of the tenth ball by dismissing Gaikwad. The Indian opener ended up adding only 37 runs to the scoreboard after facing 31 balls. The Super Kings were not much fazed by the dismissal of Gaikwad as the opening batter Conway managed to light up the CSK camp with his spectacular show with the bat.
The 31-year-old Kiwi batter remained not out till the very end as he smacked 92 runs off just 52 balls with the help of 16 boundaries and one maximum. Devon’s stunning strike rate of 176.92 helped CSK post a total of 200 runs on the board. Meanwhile, the other players did not contribute much to the scoreboard.
The number three batter, Shivam Dube scored only 28 runs off 17 balls before becoming Arshdeep Singh’s first wicket of the day while Moeen Ali lost his wicket at the hands of Rahul Chahar and walked back to the pavilion in the 17th over after playing a torrid knock of ten runs.
MS Dhoni again flaunted his power-hitting abilities
The spin all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was also no better as he was dismissed at a score of 12 by Sam Curran. However, the Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni was successful in entertaining the crowd with his clean hitting. The former Indian skipper smacked two maximums accumulating 13 runs off just four balls.
Notably, PBKS bowlers ended the first innings with all four players including Arshdeep Singh, Sam Curran, Rahul Chahar, and Sikandar Raza picking a wicket each.
Chasing the target of 201 runs in the second innings, Punjab Kings did not see a long opening partnership like Chennai Super Kings. Their opening pair of Prabhsimran Singh and Shikhar Dhawan recorded a stand of 50 runs before the seamer Tushar Deshpande scalped the wicket of the Kings’ skipper in the fifth over.
While Dhawan walked back after scoring 28 runs and facing 15 balls, Prabhsimran stayed in the middle till the third ball of the ninth over to add 42 runs to the scoreboard in just 24 balls. With both the openers gone at 81 runs, PBKS needed a strong partnership but the top-order batter Atharva Taide failed to understand the assignment as he played 17 balls in the middle and hit only 13 runs at a poor strike rate of 76.47.
Sam Curran and Liam Livingstone stitched a 57-run partnership to bring the momentum back to their side. Livingstone made the major contribution of 40 runs off 24 balls while Curran hammered 29 runs off 20 balls. Towards the end, it was Jitesh Sharma and Raza who ensured a win for Punjab with their quick cameos.
The wicket-keeper batter smacked 21 runs off just 10 balls while Raza also faced seven balls to score 13 runs. The visiting team reached the target on the very last ball of the match as Raza and Shahrukh Khan completed three runs on the last ball. Despite the gut-wrenching defeat, Tushar and Jadeja deserve praise for their impressive bowling as they picked three and two wickets each.
Dhoni’s men will now play Lucknow Supergiants as the team in the second position hosts Royal Challengers Bangalore and CSK in a span of less than 48 hours while Punjab Kings return to Mohali to play against Mumbai Indians on Wednesday evening.