Chennai Super Kings cruise to 6-wicket win against Punjab Kings

Chennai Super Kings beat Punjab Kings by 6 wickets in Match 8 of the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League.
After winning the toss, former Indian national team skipper MS Dhoni asked the KL Rahul-led Punjab Kings to bat first on a tricky wicket.
Starting the proceedings with a bang, Deepak Chahar went clean through Mayank Agarwal’s defense and sent the Karnataka batsman back to the pavilion for a duck. Chris Gayle and skipper Rahul tried to take the momentum away from CSK by scoring some boundaries but confusion between the pair and a brilliant throw from Ravindra Jadeja meant that Rahul was dismissed for a lowly score of 5 runs.
Gayle was dismissed by Chahar in the firth over with Jadeja taking an absolute blinder of a catch and Nicholas Pooran disappointed by giving away his wicket cheaply with an irresponsible slog on the second ball he faced on the night.
Bowling a fourth consecutive over, Chahar dismissed last match’s star performer Deepak Hooda as well starring for Chennai with wonderful figures of 4/13 bowling out his maximum quota of overs.
The second-most expensive Indian acquisition in the 2021 IPL auctions, Shahrukh Khan came good for Punjab Kings as he played magnificent innings of 47 runs off 36 balls smashing four boundaries and two maximums.
The Kings put 106 on the board for Chennai to chase and the Dhoni-led side started the chase awkwardly scoring only 8 runs in the first three overs. Ruturaj Gaikwad returned to the pavilion after failing to get going as he could only muster 5 runs off 16 balls.
Moeen Ali and Faf du Plessis running between the wickets against Punjab Kings
Moeen Ali’s arrival on the pitch meant that Faf du Plessis could comfortably play the anchor role whilst the English all-rounder freed his arms at the other end. Ali scored 46 runs off 31 balls hitting seven boundaries and a solitary maximum while du Plessis contributed 19 runs from the other end.
Mohammed Shami took a couple of wickets towards the end of the match but it was a mere concession as Chennai cruised to the victory courtesy of a Sam Curran boundary with 26 balls to spare.
Deepak Chahar was named the ‘Man of the Match’ for his contribution to the winning cause while Punjab Kings would be doing a re-think of their strategies before their match against Delhi Capitals on Sunday.