Punjab Kings choose to bowl against Super Kings in IPL

Ruturaj Gaikwad © Sportzpics

Rilee Rossouw and Johnny Bairstow struck quickfire 40s to help the Punjab Kings clinch a comfortable seven wicket win over the Chennai Super Kings in their Tata Indian Premier League clash against the Punjab Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Wednesday night.

Rossouw hammered two sixes and five fours on his way to 43 off 23 balls, while Bairstow struck 46 off 30 (7x4, 1x6) as they setup the chase for their side to eventually ease home from as they easily chased down the 163 needed to win.

The Kings chase got off to a rocky start as opener Prabhsimran Singh (13) popped a ball from Richard Gleeson straight to captain Ruturaj Gaikwad at mid-off at the start of the fourth over with the score 19/1.

This brought Rossouw in to join Bairstow and they set up the chase with a positive 64-run second wicket partnership, as they took their side to 52/1 by the end of the powerplay.

Rossouw was the initial aggressor, after hitting his first two balls for four, but Bairstow, who at a stage was on eight off 12 balls, started to pick up the rate but just as he was nearing a half century he tried to guide Shivam Dube past the keeper but only feathered an edge to MS Dhoni, as they slipped to 83/2 in the 10th over.

Rossouw immediately took over, striking some lusty blows as he powered his team past 100, but just after crashing a six and a four off Shardul Thakur, he missed out on a full toss, inside edging an attempted pull onto his own stumps leaving them on 113/3 after 12 overs.

Despite both set batters losing their wickets, Rossouw and Bairstow had done enough, leaving an easy run rate to chase which allowed Punjab captain Sam Curran, 26 off 20 (3x4) and Shashank Singh (25no) share in an unbeaten 50-run stand to ease them home with 13 balls to spare.

At the start of play Punjab won the toss and chose to bat, with a good half century from Gaikwad helping the Super Kings reach a slightly below par but competitive 162/7 batting first.

Gaikwad was the core of his sides innings as he struck five fours and two sixes on his way to 62 off 48 balls, while the Punjab spinners largely kept the hosts in check with Rahul Chahar, 2/16, and Harpreet Brar, 2/17, particularly impressing in their four over spells.

The Super Kings innings got off to a steady start with just 23 coming off the first four overs, but the final two overs of the powerplay saw the openers tuck into the bowling.

A four of the bat of Ajinkya Rahane, 29 off 24 (5x4), and two boundaries from Gaikwad helped 14 come off Arshdeep Singh’s fifth over, while three fours in a row from Rahane in Curran’s sixth led to 18 coming off it as they moved to 55/0.

Punjab then fought back, with two tight overs followed by a brilliant ninth from Brar as he had Rahane top edging to Rossouw at cow corner, before trapping Dube LBW for a first ball duck as the hosts slipped to 65/2.

Chahar struck in the next over, getting the ball to spin inside Ravindra Jadeja’s (2) bat and nail him in front LBW to reduce the Super Kings to 71/3 at the halfway stage of their innings.

Sameer Rizvi (21) joined Gaikwad and they stopped the rot with a 37-run fourth wicket stand, taking their side past the hundred run mark in the 15th over.

Kagiso Rabada broke the partnership in the 16th over, having Rizvi caught by Harshal Patel coming in from deep third man leaving them on 107/4.

Gaikwad, who had been very quiet since the end of the powerplay, finally opened up in the 17th as he targeted Curran, cracking him for four and then launching him over long on for six to reach his half century, before pulling the last ball of the over for six as 20 came off it.

Moeen Ali (15) got in on the action in Singh’s 18th, striking a six and a four before Gaikwad was bowled with the score 145/5.

Ali was next to fall, bowled by Chahar in the 19th, which brought in crowd favourite Dhoni (14) and he got them cheering as he cracked a four and launched a six in Singh’s last over of the innings.

CHENNAI SUPER KINGS: Ajinkya Rahane, Ruturaj Gaikwad (capt), Daryl Mitchell, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (wk), Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Jack Gleeson, Mustafizur Rahman

PUNJAB KINGS: Jitesh Sharma (wk), Jonny Bairstow, Rilee Rossouw, Sam Curran (capt), Shashank Singh, Ashutosh Sharma, Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Kagiso Rabada, Arshdeep Singh, Rahul Chahar