Punjab batsmen fail to turn up as Chennai open their account

After each side have played two games each, the Chennai Super Kings remain the only team to be involved in one-sided encounters. Only this time, it was them who came out on top to get going in the 2021 season.

Deepak Chahar found movement with the new ball and Chennai resorted to their proven method using his quota in one go. In the field, Ravindra Jadeja’s presence was like having 12 guys for the job. His swift pickup, rocket throws and immaculate judgement lifted Chennai in the first few overs itself. At the end of the seventh over, Punjab were 26/5 and the game only headed in one direction from then on.

Chahar returns and Jadeja’s magic

Like most players in the CSK unit, Chahar had a rough season in 2020. He took a wicket in every 26 balls, his worst record since he started playing for them in 2018. 

The fresh pitch tonight offered swing for Chahar, enough for him to finally make an impact. The fourth ball of the innings was a perfect out-swinger. Moving away late, the ball squared up Mayank Agarwal to hit the top of off. “I think it's a ball you dream about”, said Chahar about his first wicket of the night.

If not for Ruturaj Gaikwad fluffing a regulation catch, Chahar would have had two by the last ball of the first over. Chris Gayle, at three, decided to have a feel to a ball kept full outside off, but all he managed was an aerial shot to backward point where Gaikwad could not hold on. 

In the third over of the innings, Jadeja gave Punjab a blow they could not recover from. Playing a ball towards cover, Gayle called Rahul for a quick single. Jadeja ran in from shot cover and executed a quick pickup and release to find Rahul short of his crease.

In the penultimate over of the Powerplay, Chahar managed to undo the error off him from earlier and accounted for Gayle. But, not without Jadeja’s contribution. A knuckleball induced Gayle to go for the drive. Jadeja, flying to his left at short cover took care of an aerial leading edge. Two balls later, Nicholas Pooran could not resist having a go at a short ball. Hitting with no control, Pooran mistimed a hook to the fielder at deep fine leg, departing for a second consecutive duck.

Chahar’s fourth wicket of the night was a tame dismissal. The hero of the night earlier, Deepak Hooda, chipped a gentle outswinger to Faf du Plessis, lurking at mid-off. In the last five games before tonight, Chahar did not have a wicket to his name in the Powerplay. Tonight he had three.

Shahrukh’s cameo 

One good thing to come out of tonight for Punjab was for Shahrukh Khan to find his feet in the IPL. He started his boundary count with a pull to Jadeja for a six in the eighth over. He followed it up with a boundary past cover to Shardul Thakur in the ninth. In the 14th, Shahrukh slog-swept Moeen Ali for his second six.

In the 16th over, Shahrukh used his big frame to dismiss Thakur's military medium to the mid-wicket fence for his third boundary of the night. Hitting two more fours – one to Dwayne Bravo down the ground and the other to Thakur to the leg side - Shahrukh hung on for a 36-ball 47, till the first ball of the last over. But Punjab barely crossed the three-figure mark, scoring the lowest-ever first-innings score without getting bowled out at Wankhede.

CSK crawled but got home

Chennai themselves scored only 32 in the period of the fielding restrictions. And this too included a 14-run fifth over when du Plessis cut loose after an initial struggle. There was spice in the pitch for the bowlers and Gaikwad continued to have an off day. There were mistimed shots or play and misses in aplenty. In a score of 16-ball five, the only time Gaikwad made decent contact with the ball was to hit Arshdeep Singh to the throat of deep square leg.

The batsman to help Chennai use this opportunity to better their net run rate was Moeen Ali. On a pitch where everyone struggled, Moeen began with three crisp boundaries. Using his pace, Moeen caressed Riley Meredith twice through the off-side. He hit Arshdeep over midwicket in the next over to accelerate an otherwise circumspect chase. Pace or spin are hardly made a difference as Moeen used exploited the presence of fielders inside the ring to hit boundaries at will during his 31-ball 46.

In a hurry to finish the game, Moeen hit Murugan Ashwin's googly over long-on to come to a touching distance of a half-century. Attempting the same stroke two balls later, Moeen played a tad early and found the fielder in the deep.

Watching CSK’s senior men in the middle, Punjab pacers had no time for respect and unleashed a bouncer barrage. So much so that the umpires had to refer the third umpire on two occasions to keep the bouncer count in check. 

Bowling short on almost every ball, first Meredith and then Shami had Suresh Raina hopping, skipping and finally top-edging one to Rahul behind the wicket. In a hurry, Rayudu stepped out to slog Shami on the first he faced. All he could manage was a skier to Pooran at point.

In the 16th over, Sam Curran put away Meredith's short ball to open CSK’s account. At the other end, du Plessis remained unbeaten for a 33-ball 36.