Deepak Chahar returned with figures of 4-1-13-4 to blow away Punjab Kings for a mere 106. Chennai Super Kings knocked off the target with little fuss and romped home with six wickets in hand and 26 balls to spare.
It was probably the first proper thrashing of the 2021 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). After a succession of final over and nail-biting finishes over the last few days, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) blew away the Punjab Kings (PBKS) challenge as the MS Dhoni-led side got first points on board this season.
Once again, the track at the Wankhede Stadium had something in it for the bowlers early on and the CSK new ball bowlers made full use of the conditions. There was a shade of extra grass on the surface and as MS Dhoni said at the toss, it was a bit tacky. Deepak Chahar made the Punjab batters dance to his tunes.
CSK won the toss and had absolutely no hesitation in bowling first. Both teams went into this game unchanged. Chahar set the tone early as he knocked over Mayank Agarwal with a jaffa. The CSK pacer got the ball to shape away from middle-stump and hit the top of off to give CSK the perfect start. Chahar could’ve had Chris Gayle second ball but Ruturaj Gaikwad dropped him at backward point.
Gayle smashed Chahar for a couple of boundaries in his next over before KL Rahul committed suicide going for a non-existent run after Gayle tapped it right in front of Ravindra Jadeja who struck a direct hit from the covers. In Chahar’s third over, he completely changed the game as he foxed Gayle with a superb knuckle ball which had him edging to Jadeja in the covers where he took a stunning catch. Nicholas Pooran was bounced out as the left-hander holed out to deep fine-leg a couple of balls later.
Punjab were reduced to 19/4 in five overs and Dhoni went out on the attack as he bowled Chahar for the fourth successive over. The 28-year-old pacer repaid the faith as he had Deepak Hooda caught at mid-off. At 26/5 in the seventh over, the record of 49 seemed to be in a bit of danger. However, Shahrukh Khan played an excellent knock and found a little support from Jhye Richardson. The duo added 31 runs for the sixth wicket, which was the highest partnership of the innings.
Richardson was knocked over by Moeen Ali for 15 but Khan continued his fluent knock at the other end. He scored 47 off 36 balls which included four fours and two sixes to take Punjab past the 100-run mark. Sam Curran and Dwayne Bravo picked up a wicket each towards the end and PBKS finished with 106/8.
In reply, CSK got off to a slow start. Faf du Plessis couldn’t find his timing in the first three overs before he struck Jhye Richardson for a four and a six. However, Ruturaj Gaikwad struggled to get the ball away and his misery came to an end in the 5th over when he holed out trying to pull Arshdeep Singh. Gaikwad could muster a mere 5 off 16 balls.
Ali’s arrival at No. 3 brought some fluency to the middle as he struck the ball sweetly and found the boundaries regularly. He fell four runs short of his half-century as he holed out while slog-sweeping Murugan Ashwin. Suresh Raina was peppered with the short ball and his troubles came to an end as Mohammed Shami broke through. In fact, the Bengal pacer had Ambati Rayudu first-ball as well but du Plessis avoided the hat-trick. Sam Curran struck Riley Meredith for a boundary in the 16th over to wrap up the game.
Brief Scores: Punjab Kings 106/8 (Shahrukh 47, Richardson 15, Chahar 4/13, Curran 1/12, Bravo 1/10) lost to Chennai Super Kings 107/4 (Ali 46, du Plessis 36*, Shami 2/21, Arshdeep 1/7) by six wickets.
