A fine bowling effort from PBKS helped them overcome a one-man show with the bat by Ambati Rayudu for CSK in their league-stage encounter of the Indian Premier League 2022 on April 25 in Mumbai. The Mayank Agarwal-led side won by 11 runs following an allround display on the field.
Defending a challenging score of 187/4 on a dryish track at the Wankhede Stadium, the Northern rivals kept their opposition down to 176/6, which also they reached thanks largely to their lone warrior Rayudu, who smashed 78 off 39 balls. Rayudu looked the best of the CSK batters on show, finding perfect timing on a used surface to make a match out of it.
Without Rayudu’s innings, CSK would’ve been nowhere in the picture, with the next highest score for the innings being 30 off 27 balls from opening batter Ruturaj Gaikwad. The 49-run stand between the duo was CSK’s best for the night, as they conceded too much ground to the opposition bowlers.
It didn’t help that their skipper and designated end-overs hitter Ravindra Jadeja had another failure with the bat, making a painstaking 21 off 16 balls in a critical situation. MS Dhoni (12), who shined in CKS’s encounter against Mumbai Indians last week, tried to make the final push, but the game had run away from his and his side’s grasp by then. It was CSK’s sixth defeat for the tournament after eight matches, including only two wins, as they stare at a league-stage exit from the tournament.
For PBKS, the result was a much-needed one to keep their campaign going. Having lost four and won three of their previous seven games, they needed a victory desperately to push ahead in the standings, and the team achieved that on the back of one of their better performances as a bowling unit.
Top defensive bowling from Rabada and Arshdeep. Arshdeep flies under the radar far too much. Excellent
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) April 25, 2022
Looking rejuvenated with ball in hand, they found two major heroes in Kagiso Rabada (2/23) and Arshdeep Singh (1/23), who gave less than six an over in their collective eight overs while taking three wickets for the innings. Arshdeep was especially brilliant with his execution in the end-overs under pressure. The young left-arm pacer consistently delivered his yorker with pinpoint accuracy, making it really difficult for the CSK batters to get underneath and dispatch him.
To counter Arshdeep, CSK needed Jadeja to get going, but the premier Indian allrounder looked out of sorts with his game and failed to get his attempted big hits going.
Jadeja would also be rueing an insipid first half for his team, where they could not put the PBKS batting unit under any sort of trouble and conceded nearly 190 runs on what wasn’t the easiest of tracks to bat on. Spinner Maheesh Theekshana (1/32) was their only saving grace with ball in hand, while the rest of the bowlers, including Dwaine Pretorious (0/50) and Dwayne Bravo (2/42), proved too expensive.
PBKS had two leading performers with the bat. Experienced left-hander Shikhar Dhawan played the innings that mattered, scoring a critical 88 not out off 59 balls, featuring nine fours and two sixes. In an innings where the surface demanded one player to bat deep into the innings, Dhawan did his job to perfection. The other hero of the batting effort was comeback man Bhanuka Rajapaksa, who blazed his willow for a crucial 42 off 32 balls.
Brief scores
Punjab Kings 187/4 in 20 overs (Dhawan 88*; Rajapaksa 42; Bravo 2/42) beat Chennai Super Kings 176/6 in 20 overs (Rayudu 78; Rabada 2/23, Singh 1/23) by 11 runs
