Shikhar Dhawan’s unbeaten 88 helped Punjab Kings beat Chennai Super Kings by 11 runs at the Wankhede Stadium here. Ambati Rayudu’s 39-ball 78-run knock went in vain as CSK lost their sixth match of the season.
Chasing a challenging 189, Chennai Super Kings got off to a poor start losing opener Robin Uthappa for 1 as they lost their first wicket for 10 in the second over of the innings. Sandeep Sharma gave Punjab Kings the first breakthrough. CSK were dealt another severe blow as they lost the wicket of Mitchell Santner for 9 as left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh cleaned him up to leave CSK tottering at 30 for 2.
In the next over Rishi Dhawan cleaned up all-rounder Shivam Dube for 8 to leave CSK tottering at 40/3.
The defending champions desperately needed a partnership and opener Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ambati Rayudu did exactly that to take their side beyond the 50-run mark in 7.5 overs.
Gaikwad-Rayudu’s 49-run partnership was broken by Kagiso Rabada as he dismissed Gaikwad for 30 off 27 balls as CSK lost their fourth wicket for 89.
Rayudu kept hitting powerful blows to take his team beyond the triple-figure mark in 13.4 overs and in the process notched up his half-century off just 28 balls.
Rayudu and Jadeja put on a fifty partnership for the fifth wicket off just 21 balls. These two took CSK’s total beyond the 150-run mark in 17.2 overs.
Rabada got the dangerman Rayudu out for 78 off 39 balls hitting seven fours and six maximums.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni walked out to bat with CSK needing 35 runs of 13 balls. Dhoni tried hard-hitting a four and a six but was dismissed by Rishi Dhawan for 8-ball 12 run knock as his side fell short by 11 runs.
Earlier being put in to bat, Punjab Kings got off to a steady start as captain Mayank Agarwal and experienced opener Shikhar Dhawan, who was playing his 200th IPL match, batted sensibly.
In the second over, Shikhar Dhawan became only the second batter in the history of IPL after Virat Kohli to amass 6,000 runs in the league. In another milestone for the southpaw, he reached the milestone of 9,000 runs in T20s in the sixth over.
Maheesh Theekshana gave CSK the first breakthrough by dismissing Mayank Agarwal for 18 of 21 balls. Bhanuka Rajapaksa joined Dhawan and the duo took Punjab’s total beyond the 50-run mark in the eighth over.
Rajapaksa-Dhawan duo batted brilliantly to strike a fifty partnership and take their team’s total beyond the triple-figure mark in 12.3 overs.
The 36-year old Dhawan went on to score his half-century off 37 balls. Rajapaksa-Dhawan pair kept on hammering CSK’s bowling attack as they notched up a century stand of 63 balls on a wicket where the ball was not coming easy on the bat.
Dwayne Bravo managed to break the 110-run partnership dismissing the Sri Lankan batter to a 32-ball 42. Liam Livingstone walked in to bat and scored 7-ball 19 in order to take the Punjab team beyond the 150-run mark in the 18th over.
Dhawan continued to hit lusty blows and took the Punjab team to 187/4 in 20 overs. Dhawan remained unbeaten on 88 off 59 balls hitting nine fours and two sixes.
Brief scores: Punjab Kings 187/4 in 20 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 88, Bhanuka Rajapaksa 42; Dwayne Bravo 2/42) vs Chennai Super Kings 176/6 in 20 overs (Ambati Rayudu 78, Kagiso Rabada 2/23, Rishi Dhawan 2/39).