MS Dhoni’s Chennai came out victorious in the battle of the ‘Kings’ as they defeated Punjab by six wickets. Seamer Deepak Chahar registered his best-ever Indian Premier League (IPL) spell to dismantle the Punjab Kings’ top-order at the Wankhede Stadium and lay the foundations to CSK’s win.
Chasing a 107, Chennai rode on Faf Du Plessis’ unbeaten 36 run and Moeen Ali’s 46, to reach the target in 15.4 overs. Mohammed Shami picked two wickets as Arshdeep Singh and Murugan Ashwin got one each.
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Earlier, Chahar used variations – especially the knuckle ball – to get rid of Punjab’s top-order and reduce them to was 26/5 within seven overs. Shahrukh Khan scored 47 off 36 balls to take Punjab past the 100-run mark.
Deepak Chahar was the adjudged man of the match. The Agra-born pacer bowled the first wicket-maiden over of the season and recorded more dot balls (19) than runs conceded (13) in his four overs, finishing with figures of 4/13.
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Punjab Kings’ skipper KL Rahul described the pitch as ‘sticky and tacky’. He said that this game was a good learning curve for the team. Talking about Jhye Richardson and Riley Meredith, he said, “The first game didn’t go too well for those two, it was their first game and I am sure they were a bit nervous. That was the chat after the game as well, that’s how IPL goes.”