IPL-2023: Punjab Kings beat Chennai Super Kings by four wickets
In IPL Cricket, Punjab Kings beat Chennai Super Kings by four wickets at M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Chasing a target of 201 runs, Punjab Kings reached home on the last ball of the match losing six wickets. Chennai Super Kings, opener Devon Conway adjudged Player of the Match for his unbeaten 92 runs off 52 balls.
Punjab Kings sealed a thrilling last-ball victory at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai to move to the top half of the points table following their four-wicket win. They also became the first visiting team to prevail in a 200-plus chase at Chepauk as they extended their winning streak over Chennai Super Kings to four games.
Devon Conway registered his fifth fifty-plus score in his last six innings, finishing with an unbeaten 92 off 52 (16 fours, 1 six) while there was an MS Dhoni special towards the end of the first innings that propelled Chennai Super Kings to 200/4. The total, however, proved insufficient as there were cameos throughout the PBKS innings, led by 40s from Prabhsimran Singh and Liam Livingstone, and Sikandar Raza’s 7-ball 13 not out taking them over the line off the last ball.
Livingstone went after Tushar Deshpande, striking three sixes in the first four deliveries of the 16th over, while there were also four leg-byes as PBKS fought back after a middle overs slowdown. Livingstone, though, had to depart for 40 off 24 as he found Ruturaj Gaikwad at deep midwicket. But 22 came in the over, and 16 came off Jadeja’s last as Jitesh Sharma and Sam Curran struck a couple of crucial sixes to bring the equation down to 31 off 18. It was down to 22 off 12 as Jitesh kept PBKS in the hunt despite Curran being bowled by Matheesha Pathirana.
Jitesh also struck a four off Deshpande in the 19th over but was dismissed for a 10-ball 21 as substitute fielder Shaik Rasheed held the ball, slipped, but just about managed not to make contact with the boundary ropes. Deshpande, though, did not finish the over well, being hit for a four by Raza then also bowled a wide, leaving PBKS with 9 to get off the last over. Only four came off the first four deliveries in the last over bowled by Pathirana but Raza managed a couple and put away the last ball over backward square leg and ran three to help PBKS come out on top in a thrilling finish.
Only for the second time this season, PBKS managed to post more than 60 in the powerplay. Both Shikhar Dhawan and Impact sub Prabhsimran batted positively, smashing seven fours and two sixes between them to raise a half-century stand in only 25 deliveries. But Dhawan’s concentration seemed affected and he was seen complaining several times to the umpire before getting out to Deshpande. But PBKS still managed a good start, getting to 62/0 in the powerplay, five more than what CSK had managed.
With a switch-hit off Ravindra Jadeja and a clean strike for a six off Moeen Ali, Prabhsimran kept the attack going even as Atharva Taide was struggling to get a move on. CSK, slowly but surely, were spinning a web around PBKS. In the four overs soon after the powerplay, PBKS managed to score at only eight an over, despite Livingstone striking a six off Akash Singh, and also lost Prabhsimran for 42 as he was stumped off Jadeja. The left-arm spinner also ended Taide’s struggle by taking a catch off his own bowling. From overs 11-15, CSK cut off the boundary-scoring avenues as PBKS managed only two fours in that period and scored only 35 in five overs to be left with an equation of 72 off 30 before the middle order batters took them home.
