Spinners Harpreet Brar and Rahul Chahar took two wickets each in economical bowling spells of 2-17 and 2-16, while Jonny Bairstow and Rilee Rossouw hit useful 40s each to help Punjab Kings register a seven-wicket victory over Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Wednesday.
Brar and Chahar applied brakes on CSK’s batting in the middle overs through their nagging line and length to return with collective figures of 4-33 in eight overs and an economy rate of 4.25, while conceding no boundaries, as the hosts’ were restricted to 162/7.
In reply, Bairstow and Rossouw hit 46 and 43 respectively, before Shashank Singh and Sam Curran ensured PBKS completed the chase with seven wickets in hand and 13 balls to spare. PBKS are now at seventh place in the points table, after pulling off their fifth victory in a row over CSK, who were hampered by dew and losing Deepak Chahar to hamstring injury just two balls into the second innings.
Chasing 163, Prabhsimran Singh hit a 10-ball 13 before a leading edge on his flick was caught by mid-off, giving Richard Gleeson his maiden IPL wicket. But Rilee Rossouw was unstoppable from the get go – taking consecutive fours each off Gleeson and Mustafizur Rahman.
From the other end, Jonny Bairstow cut and pulled Shardul Thakur for a brace of fours as PBKS reached 52/1 at the end of power-play. Post that, Bairstow was severe on Ravindra Jadeja in his opening over, cutting at the last moment and pulling powerfully to take two fours.
It felt like Bairstow began from where he left in his 48-ball 100 against Kolkata Knight Riders last week – seen from him pulling and slog-sweeping off Moeen Ali for six and four respectively. After cutting Jadeja for another four, Bairstow’s knock ended when a short ball from Dube, bowling for the first time in IPL 2024, was ramped behind to keeper.
But Rossouw pulled him for six over square leg, followed a four cut through cover to take 14 from the tenth over. Shardul Thakur came in to castle Rossouw with a full toss, and he could have got Shashank Singh’s wicket if Daryl Mitchell hadn’t made mess of a chance at mid-off.
Shashank and captain Sam Curran hit five boundaries between themselves while sharing a 50-run stand off 37 balls for the fourth wicket to ensure PBKS got another win on the road, with the winning runs coming off an overthrow.
Brief Scores: Chennai Super Kings 162/7 in 20 overs (Ruturaj Gaikwad 62, Ajinkya Rahane 29; Rahul Chahar 2-16, Harpreet Brar 2-17) lost to Punjab Kings 163/3 in 17.5 overs (Jonny Bairstow 46, Rilee Rossouw 43; Shivam Dube 1-14, Richard Gleeson 1-30) by seven wickets
