STATS HIGHLIGHTS
Follow UsIt took five matches for Chennai to get off the mark in this edition of the IPL. After suffering four defeats in his first four matches as a captain, Ravindra Jadeja finally has a win to his name.
Highest 3rd wicket partnership
Chennai at the end of the seventh over, were in all sorts of trouble and were heading for another loss when they were 36/2. Shivam Dube and Robin Uthappa, their best batsmen so far in this edition joined hands in search of resurrection.
Initially, they took their time, but after the 10th over, it was a discharge of brute power. The batters forged a 165-run partnership for the third wicket, out of which 121 runs came in the last 10 overs of the innings. Their partnership involved 14 sixes and eight boundaries. In the IPL, this is the highest third wicket partnership.
To add more, only once has a Chennai pair posted a higher partnership in the IPL. Faf du Plessis and Shane Watson in 2020 against Punjab Kings recorded an unbeaten 181-run opening stand, which is the highest. Also, this is the best third wicket partnership against Bangalore in the IPL and the third highest partnership for any wicket against Bangalore.
The unstoppable Shivam Dube
Though the start to Chennai’s 2022 IPL campaign has been dodgy, Uthappa and Dube have been their silver lining in the batting department, especially Dube. Prior to this match as well, Dube was their highest run scorer. In the match against Bangalore, he extended it by scoring an unbeaten 95.
By smashing an unbeaten 95, Dube registered his highest score in T20s, surpassing his 64 against Chennai in 2021 while playing for Rajasthan Royals. To add more to his glory, his score of 95 was also the best score by a Chennai number 4 or lower batsman in the IPL. In this edition, he is just 11 runs behind Jos Buttler (218) in the race to Orange Cap.
Robin in his old avatar
When Uthappa gets going, he is one of the most eye pleasing batsmen across the globe. In his match against Bangalore, the old glimpse of Uthappa was witnessed. Generally, in this IPL, Uthappa has struggled to bat outside the powerplay, but today wasn’t the case.
With Dube teeing off at one end, Uthappa wasn’t shy of playing his strokes. The Karnataka-born batsman registered his highest IPL score after he scored 88 off just 50 balls. His innings involved nine sixes, which is the second joint most sixes hit by a Chennai batsman in an IPL innings.
A late discharge
From a spot of bother, Uthappa and Dube propelled Chennai to the summit. At the end of the 10th over, Chennai were at 60/2, a total of 160 looked distant considering the form of their batters. However, Uthappa and Dube carted Bangalore bowler’s all-over the park.
In the last 10 overs, Chennai smashed 156 runs and helped their team to post 216 at the end of 20th over. The 156 runs scored by Chennai in the second half is the third most runs scored by a team in the IPL. In the last five overs, Chennai scored 83 runs. Only against Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2013, they had hit more runs in the last five overs (87/0).
Sixes galore
After a slow first half, it was raining sixes in the second half of Chennai’s innings. Throughout the innings, there 17 sixes hit by Chennai batsmen, their joint most in an IPL innings. In the partnership of 165 between Uthappa and Dube alone, 14 sixes were involved.
In the last 10 overs, Chennai batsmen clubbed 15 sixes, which is the second most sixes hit by a team in the second half of the innings in an IPL match. All the 17 sixes in this innings came off the bat of Uthappa (9) and Dube (8).
The unimaginable three’s
In venues in India, where the ground dimensions are smaller, running three’s itself is a difficult feat. Imagine, three in one over, yes, it is unimaginable. However, Bangalore’s opening pair of Faf du Plessis and Anuj Rawat achieved the unthinkable in the second over of the innings. The pair ran three runs three times in a single over, second ball, fourth ball and the fifth ball. In the IPL, this is the first time a team has run three runs three times in an over.
Theekshana stars for Chennai
In the absence of Deepak Chahar (likely to miss the entire IPL), their premier bowler in the powerplay, Maheesh Theekshana can be Chennai’s solution. Predominantly, Theekshana bowls most of his quota of overs in the first six overs. In his match against Bangalore, Theekshana picked up the wicket of Faf and Anuj in the powerplay.
Later, when Suyash Prabhudessai and Shahbaz Ahmed were looking threatening, he removed the debutant Suyash in his third over and Shahbaz in his fourth over. He ended with 4/33 and became the second Sri Lankan spinner in the IPL to pick up a four-wicket haul. Wanindu Hasaranga against Kolkata Knight Riders in this edition, had figures of 4/20, the best for a Sri Lankan spinner.
Third instance of two batters scoring 85+ in the same innings
However big the totals are, there are very few matches in which two batsmen of the same team score 85+ runs in the same innings. The match between Chennai and Bangalore is one of those rare instances. Uthappa scored 88 and Dube scored an unbeaten 95 for Chennai. This is the first time two batsmen of Chennai scored 85+ runs in the same innings, overall only the third instance in the IPL. AB de Villiers (129*) and Virat Kohli (109) for Bangalore in 2016 against the now-defunct Gujarat Lions had scored centuries. So did Jonny Bairstow (114*) and David Warner (100) for Sunrisers against Bangalore in 2019.
