Who won yesterday’s IPL match: As Chennai found themselves in the thick of controversies after three straight defeats on the bounce, it needed something special from the Yellow Army to announce a comeback to the domestic extravaganza.
Punjab was off to a fiery start, thanks to some dynamic hitting from Mayank Agarwal. Rahul played as a solid anchor at the other end until he saw Mayank getting scalped by Piyush Chawla. Trying to attempt the glory shot, he holed out to Sam Curran in the deep.
Mandeep Singh joined forces with Rahul for the second wicket and started looking dangerous as he smoked Darren Bravo for a couple of monumental sixes. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get going either as he slashed a straight forward catch to Ambati Rayudu, getting out for a quickfire 27.
Nicholas Pooran walked into the middle and blasted another breezy cameo that saw Punjab positioning themselves in a good position. Pooran smashed 33 off just 17 balls before being caught in the deep by Ravindra Jadeja.
Things started going downhill for Punjab from there as Rahul failed to connect to his heart’s desire and the boundaries dried up going by the standards of the death overs.
Rahul did try his very best to hurl anything he could at the bowlers but finally got out on 63 from 52 balls, after MS Dhoni caught an absolute ripper, completing his 100th catch of the tournament.
Punjab posted 178 for 4 from their quota of 20 overs. Going by the mediocre stature of the pitch, the score seemed pretty good for them.
Chennai’s dramatic turnaround
As an uphill task loomed right in front of their eyes, Watson and Faf Du Plessis started taking out the Punjab bowlers by bits and pieces.
Excellent cricketing strokes were up for grabs as Du Plessis peppered Punjab with some extraordinary brilliance. Watson finally came out of his cocoon as he led the carnage upon the Punjab bowlers.
Their best picks Sheldon Cottrell and Mohammad Shami were attacked and were downright humiliated. Cottrell leaked 30 from his quota of 3 overs while Shami went for 35. Chris Jordan was smoked for 30 runs from his two 15 overs.
Watson stayed unbeaten for 83 from 53 balls while Du Plessis amassed 87 from the same number of deliveries.
They won the game with 14 balls to spare, a stat that underlines the gentry of dominance put in by Chennai Super Kings.
IPL 2020: CSK vs KXIP, Who won man of the match yesterday?
It was a very tight call to pick today’s man of the match with Watson and Du Plessis almost posting identical scores that helped Chennai cruise. However, going by the number of sixes, Watson edged past Du Plessis in the man of the match award.
With this victory CSK moved into the sixth spot, going ahead of Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kings XI Punjab. This victory will be a massive boost for the struggling Yellow Army.
