Ambati Rayudu’s sensational 78-run knock went in vain as Punjab Kings beat Chennai Super Kings by 11 runs in a thrilling contest at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. Punjab Kings’ pacers Kagiso Rabada, Arshdeep Singh and Rishi Dhawan managed to defend 41 runs in the last 18 balls to get their team back to the winning ways. Chasing a 188-run target against a quality Punjab bowling attack, CSK lost some crucial wickets early but Rayudu completely changed the momentum in the middle overs.
However, the Punjab bowlers were right on the money in the final overs and it all started with Rabada who bowled the 18th where he claimed the crucial wicket of Rayudu and gave just 6 runs to pull his team back in the game. While Arshdeep was also right on the money against two of the cleanest hitters Ravindra Jadeja and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. He conceded just 8 runs from the penultimate over to leave 27 to defend from the 20th.
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Comeback man Rishi Dhawan with his shield guard on came out to bowl the final over and defended the total quite comfortably despite conceding six on the first ball which was followed by a wide. He claimed the crucial wicket of Dhoni (12) on the third ball to almost seal the game for his team. While skipper Jadeja remained unbeaten on 21.
The win helped Punjab Kings to move to the sixth spot on the points table with 8 points in as many matches, while Chennai remained intact at the ninth spot.
Meanwhile, Rayudu’s 39-ball stay, which was laced with 6 sixes and 7 fours, put Chennai in a driver’s seat but Jadeja and Dhoni failed to capitalize.
It was the 16th over of the match when Rayudu slammed Sandeep Sharma for three consecutive sixes followed by a four to shift the momentum. Interestingly, he got injured during the first over of the match while fielding. A cover drive from Mayank Agarwal hit Rayudu’s arm and he missed the field for the entire innings.
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Earlier, asked to bat first, riding on Shikhar Dhawan’s unbeaten 88, Punjab posted a formidable total of 187/4 on the scoreboard. The 36-year-old left-handed batter anchored the Punjab innings with a brilliant 88 not out and combined with Sri Lankan Bhanuka Rajapaksa (42) for a 110-run stand for the second wicket from 11.3 overs after captain Mayank Agarwal’s early dismissal. While Liam Livingstone played a short but a precious 7-ball 19 runs to add some much-needed fuel in the penultimate over.
It was Dhawan’s 200th IPL match and he make it count with a fabulous knock where he played with a lot of responsibility to stay unbeaten till the end. The southpaw started slow but he paced his inwards quite well by switching gears at the right moment. Dhawan hit nine fours and two sixes in his 59-ball superlative unbeaten knock.
With the ball, Rabada and Rishi were the picks of the bowlers with 2 scalp-each under their name.
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