Star performer Deepak Chahar ran through the upper batting order of Punjab Kings picking up four wickets followed by Faf du Plessis and Moeen Ali batting in middle leading Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to a comfortable win in the Indian Premier League match at Wankhede on Friday.
Chahar wreaked havoc as he sent back Punjab Kings’ top order except for skipper Rahul, who became the victim of Jadeja’s brilliant throw.
Chahar first cleaned up Mayank for a duck in the first over and then dismissed Gayle and Pooran within a span of six balls to reduce Punjab to 19/4 after Rahul’s run out.
Deepak Hooda and Shahrukh were in the middle for Punjab Kings at the end of the powerplay but the former chipped it straight to mid-off in the seventh over as Chahar bagged his fourth wicket for the day.
Chahar’s four wickets had helped CSK restrict Punjab Kings to a paltry 106/8. In response, CSK easily chased down the target with 26 balls to spare thanks to a quickfire 46 off 31 from Moeen. With this important chase CSK registered their first win in the ongoing IPL season.
Ruturaj Gaikwad was seen struggling a bit, but Faf du Plessis eased the pressure with two fours and a six in the fourth over. Ruturaj’s stint came to end in the fifth over as he tried to pull Arshdeep Singh but top-edged the ball with Deepak Hooda making no mistake.
Moeen Ali, who then came into bat, started smashing right from the word go as CSK got a move on. In no time. His wicket fell in the 13th over and left the ground keeping CSK at a comfortable spot.
CSK did suffer further hiccups as they lost Suresh Raina and Ambati Rayudu in consecutive balls but Du Plessis and Sam Curran ensured the MS Dhoni-led side got over the line in the 16th over.
Brief Scores: Punjab Kings 106/8 (Shahrukh Khan 47, Jhye Richardson 15; Deepak Chahar 4-13); CSK 107/4 (Moeen Ali 46, Faf du Plessis 36*; Mohammed Shami 2-21 )
-With ANI inputs.