An exciting match was seen between the Kings, Punjab beat Chennai by 4 wickets on the last ball at home
Chennai. On the basis of aggressive innings of Prabhsimran Singh (42 in 24 balls) and Liam Livingstone (40 in 24 balls), Punjab Kings defeated Chennai Super Kings by four wickets in a thrilling match of Indian Premier League T20 here on Sunday. Batting first, Chennai scored 200 runs for four wickets but Punjab achieved the target by losing six wickets in the last ball match. This is Punjab’s fifth win in nine matches, while it is Chennai’s fourth defeat in the same number of matches.
Apart from Prabhsimran and Livingstone, Sam Curran (29 off 20 balls), captain Shikhar Dhawan (28 off 15 balls) and Jitesh Sharma (21 off 10 balls) also played useful innings. Tushar Deshpande took three wickets for Chennai but he gave away 49 runs in four overs. Ravindra Jadeja took two wickets while Mathish Pathirana took one wicket.
Opener Devon Conway, who was in fine rhythm for Chennai Super Kings, played an aggressive 92 runs. In addition to hitting 16 fours and a six in his 52-ball knock, Conway put on 86 for the first wicket with Ruturaj Gaikwad (37 off 31 balls) and 46 with Shivam Dubey (28 off 17 balls) for the second. The partnership laid the foundation for a big score. Mahendra Singh Dhoni was welcomed to the field with a roar by the crowd after Jadeja (12 runs in nine balls) was dismissed on the first ball of the last over and the Chennai favorite hit the last two balls for consecutive sixes to delight the fans. Took the team’s score to 200 runs.
Chasing the target, Dhawan and Prabhsimran got Punjab off to a brisk start with a 26-ball 50-run partnership. Deshpande got Dhawan caught out after hitting a boundary in the fifth over. The team’s score in the Powerplay was 62 for one wicket. Prabhsimran hit his second six against Moeen Ali in the eighth over but was caught in the spin of Ravindra Jadeja in the next over and Mahendra Singh Dhoni made no mistake in stumping him.
Atharva Tayde (13 runs in 17 balls) hit the ball in the hands of Jadeja in the 11th over. Chennai bowlers managed to keep Livingstone and Sam Curran silent from 11th to 15th over. But Livingstone hit three sixes against Deshpande in the 16th over to reduce the gap between the ball and the required run. However, he was caught in the hands of Gaikwad in the fourth ball while trying for another big shot. In the next over, Jitesh Sharma and Curren hit sixes against Jadeja to turn the match towards Punjab.
Pathirana bowled Curren in the 18th over. In the next over, substitute player Sheikh Rashid took a brilliant catch of Jitesh near the boundary. In the last over, the team needed nine runs to win and Pathirana bowled brilliantly, conceding only two runs in the first three balls. Sikandar Raza (13 not out in seven balls), however, gave the team victory by running two, two and three runs in consecutive balls after this. Earlier, Gaikwad and Conway got Chennai Super Kings off to a flying start hitting six fours in the first three overs against Arshdeep Singh (1/37) and Kagiso Rabada.
Gaikwad hit the first six of the innings against Rahul Chahar (1/35) in the fifth over. Conway hit two consecutive fours against Sam Curran (1/46) in the sixth over to take the team to 57 for no loss in the powerplay. Conway hit a six against Chahar in the ninth over and hit Sikandar Raza (1/31) for fours in consecutive balls in the next over. However, Raza ended Gaikwad’s innings by getting stumped in the same over.
Dubey, who came to the crease, welcomed Raza in the 12th over with a six, while Conway hit his fifth half-century of the season in 30 balls with fours. Dubey justified the decision of sending Rabada to bat at third order in the next over by sending the ball to the spectators. However, he returned to the pavilion in the 14th over by catching Shah Rukh Khan off Arshdeep. Moeen Ali hit fours against Livingstone and Sam Curran but was stumped by Chahar in the 17th over. Conway hit fours in the last two balls of the over to keep the team’s run pace going. Arshdeep and Rabada bowled tightly in the 18th and 19th overs giving away eight runs each. Dhoni’s six in the last over took the team to 200 runs.
