Kings XI Punjab opener KL Rahul’s 55 off 47 balls and Sarfaraz Khan’s 67 off 59 deliveries went in vain as Chennai Super Kings held their nerves to beat Punjab by 22 runs in their Indian Premier League (IPL) clash at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Saturday.
This win helped CSK to climb to the top of the IPL 2019 table, with four wins from five matches. However, KXIP continue to remain on six points from five matches, now having lost two matches. Chennai Super Kings posted a 160/3 in their allotted 20 overs. CSK captain MS Dhoni won the toss and chose to bat first. Openers Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis gave the home team a good start.
However, KXIP spinners with Ravichandran Ashwin restricted CSK’s scoring rate in the middle overs. MS Dhoni came up with a good finish at the end. 44 runs were scored off the final three overs to get the score up to 160.
The KXIP innings got off to a horrible start with Harbhajan Singh capturing star batsman Chris Gayle and youngster Mayank Agarwal in the same over.
KL Rahul and Sarfaraz Khan anchored Punjab with a crucial 110 run stand for the second wicket. However, it was not enough to help them cross the line as Chennai registered their fourth win from five matches.
Harbhajan Singh had given the home team a great start, and his spin colleagues Imran Tahir and Ravindra Jadeja did a great job to restrict the run rate.
As the scoring rate was climbing upwards, KXIP found themselves difficult to capitalise on their innings, eventually falling short by 22 runs.