It surely was a run-fest yesterday at the Brabourne Stadium where Punjab Kings overcame the Chennai Super Kings with their excellent bowling.
This is the defending champs’ third straight loss in the tournament.
CSK look quite demotivated now after this loss and would need to back themselves up for the next match.
To start with, Chennai Super Kings won the toss and opted to bowl first.
Punjab Kings’ innings started off with an early wicket that too of the skipper Mayank Agarwal. Shikhar Dhawan then partnered up with Bhanuka Rajapaksa.
Everything was going well and in the Punjab Kings’ way.
With Rajapaksa’s sudden run out Punjab Kings looked in a spot of bother.
It was then Liam Livingstone who had a blast out in the Brabourne Stadium. Along with Shikhar Dhawan they put a fifty run partnership in which Livingstone was the major contributor.
Jitesh Sharma too played a handy knock but somehow grew overconfident thus losing his wicket.
In the end, Punjab Kings managed to amass a score of 180/8 in their 20 overs.
Although the target looked gettable, Chennai didn’t get off on a flier as they lost Ruturaj Gaikwad, Robin Uthappa, Moeen Ali and Ambati Rayudu in the Powerplay overs itself.
It was excellent bowling from newcomer Vaibhav Arora and even Rahul Chahar chipped in with some wickets along with Liam Livingstone.
All Punjab bowlers got wickets in the match which saw CSK all out on 126.
Only resistance shown was from Shivam Dube who scored 57 off 30 deliveries.
Player of the Match
Liam Livingstone for his 2/25 and 60 off 32 balls.
Post Match Reactions
Ravindra Jadeja, Chennai Super Kings captain said that they lost quite too many wickets inside the Powerplay and were unable to get a decent start from the beginning. For Ruturaj he said that he needs backing from the team as he’s a quality player. Added that he was impressed with Shivam Dube’s performed at the back end of the innings. Ended by saying that they need to perform better to come back stronger in the next match.
Mayank Agarwal, Punjab Kings skipper said that he knew that they could have added 5-7 runs more to their total and were also aware that early wickets would be key in this game. Was happy with the way Livingstone and Vaibhav Arora performed in the match. Also praised Jitesh Sharma and told that it was Anil Kumble who spotted this young talent and that he’s an excellent keeper. Mentioned that they will continue to play their aggressive brand of cricket in the matches to come. Also added that they will need to keep their emotional intelligence on whenever things don’t go their way.
Next Match
Chennai Super Kings will next face Sunrisers Hyderabad on the 9th of April at Dr DY Patil Stadium while Punjab Kings are up against the Gujarat Titans on the 8th of April at Brabourne Stadium.
