Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis brought up
a record stand for Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on
Sunday, guiding the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led side to a 10-wicket victory over the Kings XI
Punjab (KXIP). 

Also Read: MS Dhoni completes 100 IPL catches, just 3 behind Dinesh Karthik

Watson (83 from 53) and du Plessis (87 from
53) posted their 20th and 15th IPL fifties respectively as they scored 181
without loss in 17.4 overs to complete a comprehensive win over KL Rahul’s
charges.

The two also shared the highest-ever partnership for CSK in the IPL, while also recording the second-highest run chase without losing a wicket in IPL history. 

Watson emphatically ended his run-drought
in the ongoing 13th edition – having scored a mere 52 runs from 48
deliveries in four previous innings – with a man-of-the-match performance.

Earlier, KXIP finished their innings with a
total of 178 runs for the loss of four wickets from their stipulated 20 overs.

Skipper Rahul (63 from 52) brought up
his 18th IPL fifty to put Punjab in a commanding position before Shardul Thakur
dismissed him and Nicholas Pooran in consecutive deliveries in the 18th
over to curb the scoring. 

Also Read: KL Rahul continues golden run, scores third 50+ score in five games

CSK spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Piyush
Chawla had earlier removed the dangerous-looking Mandeep Singh (27 from 16) and
Mayank Agarwal (26 from 19) respectively.

Yet another fifty partnership between the
KXIP openers Agarwal and Rahul was broken by Chawla in the ninth over as Agarwal
looked to clear the fence for a maximum, but only managed to pick out Sam
Curran in the deep.

Also Read: All-round Mumbai Indians hand Sunrisers Hyderabad a 34-run defeat in Sharjah

The victory – just the fifth for the
chasing team out of the 18 matches so far – ends CSK’s three-match losing
streak while also lifting them from the bottom of the points table above KXIP
and Sunrisers Hyderabad to sixth.

The loss condemns the Punjab outfit to the
bottom of the table, exposing fragilities among their ranks, which have so far been
masked by Rahul and Agarwal’s exploits at the top, along with Mohammed Shami’s tournament-high
eight wickets.

CSK will next be in action on Wednesday, when the face the Kolkata Knight Riders while KXIP take on the Sunrisers Hyderabad the following day.