CSK vs PBKS: Punjab's fourth win against Chennai at Chepauk, hopes of reaching playoffs remain intact

Based on excellent batting by Jonny Bairstow and Riley Rossouw, Punjab Kings defeated Chennai Super Kings by seven wickets. This is Punjab's second consecutive victory. Earlier, the team had also defeated Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Batting first, Chennai scored 162 runs for seven wickets in 20 overs with the help of captain Ruturaj Gaikwad's five fours and two sixes in 48 balls. In reply, for Punjab, Bairstow scored 46 runs in 30 balls with the help of seven fours and one six and Riley Rossouw scored 43 runs in 23 balls with the help of five fours and two sixes, with the help of which Punjab lost by three wickets in 17.5 overs. Won by scoring 163 runs.

The second team to win the most matches at Chepauk

Punjab Kings has become the second team to defeat Chennai at home the most number of times in the IPL. This is Punjab's fourth win at Chepauk and it has left KKR behind in this matter. The record for most wins against Chennai at Chepauk is in the name of Mumbai Indians who have defeated CSK five times at their home ground.

Punjab jumped on the table

Despite the defeat, the Chennai team remains at fourth position in the table with 10 points, while Punjab has benefited from winning two matches and the team has come to seventh position with eight points. With this, Punjab has kept its chances of reaching the playoffs alive. Both Chennai and Punjab have played 10 matches each and to go to the playoffs, both will have to perform better in the next four matches.

Chennai gave the initial blow to Punjab

Punjab's chase of the target did not have a good start and Prabhsimran Singh, who entered the field as an impact player, was dismissed by Richard Gleeson. This is Gleeson's first wicket of the IPL. Prabhsimran was out after scoring 13 runs. After this, Jonny Bairstow and Rilee Rossouw took control of Punjab by making a partnership of 64 runs for the second wicket. Bairstow was moving towards his half-century when Shivam Dubey gave a second blow to Punjab by dismissing him. Shivam came out to bowl for the first time this season and took the wicket of Bairstow. Bairstow returned to the pavilion after scoring 46 runs in 30 balls with the help of seven fours and one six.

Rossouw also missed a half-century

Even after Bairstow was out, Rossouw continued his brilliant innings and he also slowly started moving towards his half-century. However, Shardul Thakur gave the third blow to Punjab by bowling Rossouw. Rossouw was out after scoring 43 runs and missed scoring a half-century. After this, captain Sam Curran along with Shashank Singh took over the innings and led the team to victory with 13 balls remaining. Karan returned unbeaten on 26 runs with the help of three fours in 20 balls and Shashank returned unbeaten on 25 runs with the help of one four and one six in 26 balls.

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Rituraj and Rahane gave a solid start

Earlier, Punjab Kings captain Sam Curran won the toss and decided to field first. This was the ninth time in 10 matches that Ruturaj could not win the toss. Chennai, who came to bat first, got a strong start from the opening pair of Ruturaj and Ajinkya Rahane and both made a partnership of 64 runs for the first wicket. Gaikwad and Rahane scored the maximum runs in the fifth and sixth overs. By the end of the powerplay, CSK's score had crossed 50 runs. This was the first time in this IPL that CSK did not lose a single wicket during the powerplay. However, Harpreet Brar, who came to bowl the ninth over, broke this partnership by dismissing Rahane who returned to the pavilion after scoring 29 runs. After this, Brar made Shivam Dubey his victim in the same over who returned to the pavilion without opening the account. Chennai's innings faltered with Chahar dismissing Ravindra Jadeja. Chennai could not carry forward the good start and lost three wickets in just six runs.

Not a single boundary was hit in the middle overs

Due to wickets falling at regular intervals, Chennai's run rate slowed down and the team did not hit a single boundary between the middle overs (seven to 15). This was the fourth time in the IPL since 2011 that no team could hit a single boundary in the middle overs. Earlier, Pune had not been able to hit a single boundary in the middle overs during the matches played against KKR in 2012, RCB against Rising Pune Supergiants in 2017, and Rajasthan Royals against Mumbai in 2021.

Rituraj played captaincy innings

Amidst the falling wickets, captain Ruturaj once again played a patient innings and scored a half-century. It was only on the strength of Rituraj's innings that the team was successful in crossing the 150-run mark. This was Rituraj's fourth fifty of this season. With this, Rituraj overtook RCB's Virat Kohli in the race for the Orange Cap. Kohli has scored 500 runs so far this season, but Gaikwad has gone ahead of Kohli. Ruturaj was supported by Sameer Rizvi and Moeen Ali, but Chennai's batting order could not score much against the Punjab bowlers. In the end, Mahendra Singh Dhoni made some shots but got all out while taking two runs on the last ball. This is the first time this season that Dhoni has been out. Dhoni contributed 14 runs on 11 balls.

Gleeson becomes the second oldest debutant player of IPL

Fast bowler Richard Gleeson made his debut for Chennai in this match. He has become the oldest player to debut in IPL since 2014. Sikandar Raza is the oldest player to debut in IPL since 2014 at the age of 36 years 342 days. Gleeson made his IPL debut at the age of 36 years and 151 days. Imran Tahir made his IPL debut at the age of 35 years 44 days, Jalj Saxena at 34 years 124 days and Keshav Maharaj made his IPL debut at the age of 34 years 63 days.

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