Punjab’s collective brilliance defeats CSK in high pursuit
Following their four-wicket victory, Punjab Kings secured an exciting last-ball victory at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai to climb to the top half of the points standings. They increased their winning streak over Chennai Super Kings to four games and became the first visiting team to triumph in a 200-plus chase in Chepauk.
Game analysis
With an unbeaten 92 off 52 (16 fours, 1 six), Devon Conway scored his fifth fifty-plus in his previous six innings. In the first innings, an MS Dhoni special helped Chennai Super Kings reach 200/4. However, despite cameos throughout the PBKS innings, including 40s from Prabhsimran Singh and Liam Livingstone, and Sikandar Raza’s 7-ball 13 not out that got them over the line off the final ball, the total turned out to be insufficient.
More on that exciting conclusion…
Livingstone targeted Tushar Deshpande, hitting three sixes in the first four deliveries of the 16th over. PBKS rallied back after a middle overs lull with the help of four leg-byes. However, Livingstone was forced to retire after finding Ruturaj Gaikwad at deep midwicket for 40 off 24. However, after Jitesh Sharma and Sam Curran hit a few crucial sixes to reduce the equation to 31 off 18, 22 came in the over, and 16 off Jadeja’s last ball. Jitesh kept PBKS in the game despite Curran getting bowled by Matheesha Pathirana when it was down to 22 off 12. In the 19th over, Jitesh also hit a four against Deshpande, but he was out for a 10-ball 21 as substitute fielder Shaik Rasheed held the ball, slipped, and narrowly avoided hitting the boundary wires. Deshpande, however, did not bowl well to end the over; he was hit for a four by Raza and then bowled a wide, giving PBKS nine runs to gain off the last over. In the last over, which was bowled by Pathirana, just four runs were made off the first four deliveries, but Raza managed to hit two, put the final ball over backward square leg, and run three runs to enable PBKS to win in a nail-biting conclusion.
PBKS’s beginnings are fiery
PBKS only managed to post more than 60 in the powerplay twice this season. Shikhar Dhawan and Impact replacement Prabhsimran played well; they combined for seven fours and two sixes to put up a half-century stand in just 25 deliveries. But before getting out to Deshpande, Dhawan was seen complaining to the umpire repeatedly because his focus appeared to be impaired. Nevertheless, PBKS got off to a strong start, scoring 62 unanswered points in the powerplay, five more than CSK had.
A well-known CSK middle-overs chokehold
Atharva Taide was having trouble moving, but Prabhsimran kept the attack going with a switch-hit off Ravindra Jadeja and a strike for a six off Moeen Ali. Slowly but surely, CSK began to weave a web around PBKS. Despite Livingstone hitting a six off Akash Singh in the first four overs following the powerplay, PBKS was only able to score eight runs per over and lost Prabhsimran for 42 when he was stumped by Jadeja. By grabbing a catch off his own bowling, the left-arm spinner put a stop to Taide’s battle as well. The boundary-scoring opportunities were closed off by CSK from overs 11 to 15, as PBKS only managed two fours during that time and scored 35 runs in five overs, leaving them needing 72 runs off of 30 before the middle-order batsmen brought them home.
What occurred previously…
For Rururaj and Conway, it was a typical workday
Before this game, Gaikwad and Conway had six stands of fifty or more over 15 innings. As a result of their quick batting performance against Punjab Kings, they added a seventh to the list. They didn’t make very artistic shots, but they continued driving beyond the line with a variety of drives, cutbacks, and pulls while occasionally going up in the air. The CSK openers kept themselves busy by hitting nine fours between them, and Ruturaj also smacked a six off Rahul Chahar to prevent the spinner from settling down, with the exception of the fourth over, in which Curran did not allow a boundary. This was also the sixth time they had raised the half-century mark on the powerplay, giving CSK yet another solid starting point.
CSK utilizes left-handers to counter PBKS
After the powerplay, Conway kept going while Ruturaj slowed down a little bit. He hit a six off Chahar and a flurry of boundaries off Raza. Before Ruturaj was stumped by Raza, the opening pair’s partnership had grown to 86 runs. CSK, however, did not lessen the severity. While Shivam Dube hit sixes off of Raza and Kagiso Rabada, Conway continued to collect boundaries as he crossed 5000 T20 runs on his way to a 30-ball fifty. Despite the fact that Arshdeep Singh was able to end Dube’s stay (28 off 17), CSK continued to be aggressive as Conway and Moeen went on Livingstone for three fours in the fifteenth over.
Dhoni completes it
In the 16th over, Moeen and Conway each hit a boundary off Curran before Chahar ended the stay of the England all-rounder by getting him out stumped. Conway, however, ended the 17th over with two consecutive fours off the legspinner to keep the runs coming. Through eight-run overs from Arshdeep and Rabada, PBKS attempted to recover while Curran dismissed Jadeja in the final over. However, CSK was able to score 200 for the 27th time thanks to Dhoni, who completed the innings with two sixes off the final two balls, pushing his IPL 2023 record for runs in the final over past 50.
