After Punjab Kings posted just 106/8 in the first innings, Chennai Super Kings chased down the target with 26 balls left to spare in Mumbai on Friday.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) notched up their first victory of the campaign in MS Dhoni’s 200th IPL match as they beat Punjab Kings (PBKS) by six wickets at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Friday.
Sent to bat first, Punjab stuttered right from the start. Deepak Chahar left the top-order of the batting attack in tatters as he ended the innings with figures of 4/13. Shahrukh Khan’s valiant 47 led Punjab to a sub-par 106/8 at the end of 20 overs. Chasing, Chennai remained in control from the beginning.
Pacer Deepak Chahar’s four-wicket haul, in which he removed four of the top five Punjab Kings batsmen, powered Chennai Super Kings to a thumping six-wicket win — their first in IPL 2021 at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday. The win couldn’t have come at a better time, as it was skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s 200th match for Chennai. Chahar’s spell restricted Punjab to 106/8 in 20 overs, a poor score on a Wankhede pitch known to be good for batting. Chahar – 4/13 from four overs – removed Mayank Agarwal (0), Chris Gayle (10), Deepak Hooda (10) and Nicholas Pooran (0) to leave Punjab tottering at 26/5 after 6.2 overs. Skipper K.L. Rahul (5) was dismissed run out. While Agarwal was bowled by one that moved away a bit and hit the stumps, Gayle couldn’t handle the knuckleball and scooped it to cover where Ravindra Jadeja took a diving catch. Chahar then got rid of Pooran, who pulled a short delivery straight to deep square-leg, before forcing Deepak Hooda to chip one to mid-off. Only Shahrukh Khan could offer some resistance and played some cracking shots, including a rasping pull off Shardul Thakur. The No. 6 batsman, who had walked in after the dismissal of Pooran in the fifth over, scored 47 off 36 balls and stayed at the crease till the end.
They have managed to get their first win of the season and this performance has put out a statement for the rest of the league as well. They have managed to chase this just over 15 overs and that will see their net run rate shoot up nicely. A painful loss for Punjab. They have been outplayed, outclassed and outmuscled in all facets of the game. Chasing a low total of 107, Gaikwad and Faf struggled initially but managed to put on 24 for the opening stand which was good enough for this chase. Gaikwad departed but Moeen looked in great touch since he walked in. His 46 from 31 balls put the game beyond any doubt. He departed with the finish on sight. Raina and Rayudu fell quickly too but it was not early enough to make the Chennai dugout panic as Faf was still out in the middle and managed to see the game off with Sam Curran.
Deepak Chahar – Player of the Match!
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