- Chennai Super Kings beat Punjab Kings by 6 wickets
- Punjab Kings: 106/8 in 20 overs (Shahrukh Khan 47, D Chahar 4/13, D Bravo 1/10, S Curran 1/12, M Ali 1/17)
- Chennai Super Kings: 107/4 in 15.4 overs (M Ali 46, F du Plessis 36*, M Shami 2/21)
Chennai Super Kings have celebrated their captain MS Dhoni’s 200th match for the team with an easy victory over Punjab Kings on Friday night in Mumbai.
Deepak Chahar had a stunning outing picking 4 wickets for 13 runs, including a maiden, as he helped reduce Punjab to 26/5 in 6.2 overs. After that early setback, Punjab managed to post just 106/8 in their 20 overs.
Chennai’s chase was mostly smooth apart from Shami’s 15th over when he got Suresh Raina and Ambati Rayudu out on back-to-back balls. Sam Curran was the new man in after that and he hit the winning boundary to get the team past the finish line.
Earlier, MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to bowl first as Chennai Super Kings restricted Punjab Kings to 106/8 in their 20 overs.
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 knuckle ball 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.
From there, it was always going to be an uphill task for Punjab.
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 (4x4, 6x2) and stayed at the crease till the last over, but found very little support from the other end. Jhye Richardson made 15 off 22 and added 31 for the sixth wicket with Shahrukh.
The target was easy for CSK and they were not challenged much.
They lost Ruturaj Gaikwad early, for five, but a 66-run second wicket stand between Moeen Ali (46 off 31 balls, 4x7, 6x1) and Faf du Plessis (36 n.o. off 31 balls, 4x3, 6x1) took CSK within 16 runs of the target.
There was a little bit of drama towards the end with Punjab picking up three quick wickets within three overs. Moeen Ali tried to reach his fifty with a big shot but was caught in the deep off Murugan Ashwin in the 13th over while Mohammed Shami accounted for former India internationals Suresh Raina and Ambati Rayudu, both trying to play expansive shots only to get caught in the process.
However, du Plessis and Sam Curran saw CSK home without any further hiccups, with 4.2 overs and six wickets to spare.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)