IPL 2024: Punjab Kings win by 7 wickets against CSK
Sam Curran’s team took advantage of the middle-overs, when they only let up 56 runs, to put CSK on a tight grip after choosing to bowl on a red-soil surface. Rahul Chahar and Harpreet Brar, spinners, let up 33 runs in eight overs while taking four wickets. Quick hits from Jonny Bairstow and Rilee Rossouw, however, relieved some of the middle-order pressure as Punjab handed Chennai its fifth straight loss.
Jonny Bairstow (46) and Rilee Rossouw (43) led the chase against a weakened Chennai pace attack in damp circumstances as Punjab easily won its fourth game of the season, 163-3 with 13 balls to spare. Chennai remained at No. 4 with 10 points on better net run rate despite the defeat, ahead of Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad. Punjab has eight points, good for seventh place. Playing in his maiden IPL match, Chennai fast bowler Richard Gleeson gave an early lead in his second over as he grabbed a leading edge on Prabhsimran Singh’s (13) bat.
Aside from skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad’s 62, CSK’s other hitters struggled to get on top of PBKS bowlers on a new red-soil pitch with turn and bounce for spinners. After losing no wickets in the power play, CSK established a solid foundation for a large total. But Brar and Chahar flipped the game on its head by bowling stump to stump and allowing the odd ball to spin, paving the way for PBKS to defeat CSK at home. When forced to bat first, Gaikwad was brilliant in punching and ramping Arshdeep Singh for a brace of fours in the second over. Despite getting a change of ends, Arshdeep was struck for 14 runs in the fifth over, with Rahane slamming him over point and Gaikwad cutting him again through the same location to take three boundaries off it.
Rahane used a pull, cut, and punch off Curran on the final three deliveries of the sixth over to move CSK to 55/0 at the end of the power play, marking the first time this season that they did not lose a wicket in the six-over period. However, as Curran brought in spinners, PBKS were able to put a huge stress on CSK, who were unable to score a boundary in the middle overs. Rahane holed out to deep midwicket off Brar, who caught a sweeping Shivam Dube plumb LBW for a golden duck. Chahar joined in by catching Ravindra Jadeja lbw, who was attempting to play it on the leg side.
Rilee Rossouw: “We have to give credit to the bowlers. 160 was very gettable on that pitch. Jonny played well tonight, hope he takes that form into the tournament and gives us a good start. We have that arsenal, the spin twins as well call them. They have been really really good. Just focused in the zone, when the bad ball comes, was gutted to miss out. We have the belief that we can make the playoffs. Hopefully we can turn things around.”
Ruturaj Gaikwad: “50-60 runs short to be honest. When we were batting first, the pitch wasn’t great, plus the dew as well. I have practised a lot. I have tossed it in the match. I am winning in the practice, but not winning in the match. What to do. I am really under pressure at the toss, not at the game. Even last game, we were quite surprised that we would win by that much margin. This is something we can’t control. We can slightly bat better in the first innings. In the last 2 games, we tried our best to get 200-210. This pitch it was tough to get 180. There are phases you want to get a wicket, and you have only two bowlers, plus the spinners are out of the question because of the dew. Can’t do much.”
Harpreet Brar, Player of the Match: “It was a good wicket to bowl on. Even Rahul bowled very well. I have been playing for the last six years, and my confidence is also built up. I am playing with a lot of legends. I wanted to bowl on my strengths and the things happened. I don’t think about wickets. My aim is to bowl lots of dot balls in my spell and the dot balls create the chances. When there is spin in the wicket, the bowler’s confidence goes up.”
Punjab Kings captain Sam Curran: “Very happy. Anytime you come to Chennai and get two points, it is a huge feeling. Last year also we lostall our home games and won the away games. We are getting a hint of the formulas. Any team that can get momentum at the back-end is dangerous. We are quietly confident that we are coming up against them in a couple of days’ time. Pretty obvious, winning the toss was huge. KG Rabada set the tone wonderfully. We thought today we’ll give him the new ball and he stormed in. Chahar has come back into the team really well. We tried something different in the 19th over. He showed confidence and to bowl to MS was great. The spinners were the pick of the bowlers. I bowled and got hit. The pace bowlers were going all the way, so thankfully it worked. This game is tough for the bowlers, we have got to be creative. We start 1-0 on them in a way. We had a tough early part. Trevs is big on enjoying the win. Taking a lot of confidence. Winning helps with confidence. Jonny, KG, spinners were great.”
Chennai Super Kings: Ajinkya Rahane, Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Daryl Mitchell, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni(w), Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Mustafizur Rahman, Matheesha Pathirana, Sameer Rizvi, Shardul Thakur, Shaik Rasheed, Mitchell Santner, Rachin Ravindra, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Prashant Solanki, Mukesh Choudhary, Simarjeet Singh, RS Hangargekar, Maheesh Theekshana, Nishant Sindhu, Aravelly Avanish, Richard Gleeson
Punjab Kings: Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran(c), Rilee Rossouw, Jitesh Sharma(w), Shashank Singh, Ashutosh Sharma, Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh, Prabhsimran Singh, Rishi Dhawan, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Shivam Singh, Prince Choudhary, Vishwanath Singh, Nathan Ellis, Atharva Taide, Tanay Thyagarajan, Liam Livingstone, Sikandar Raza, Chris Woakes, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Shikhar Dhawan
