Chennai Super Kings played against Punjab Kings on their home ground at Chepauk and received a shocking defeat following which they are officially out of the tournament. Batting first, CSK had set the target of 191 which PBKS easily chased in a nail-biting thriller. This is the first time ever CSK has lost 5 consecutive matches on home ground and they have now been knocked out of the league stage for two consecutive years.
Struggles Continue For CSK
CSK’s opening duo Shaik Rasheed and Ayush Mhatre struggled to form a strong partnership and the hosts lost their early wickets at the score of just 22/2. Sam Curran was the top batter as he scored 88 off 47 balls but his efforts went in vain as PBKS took the victory. Punjab’s Yuzvendra Chahal was the ultimate game-changer as he stopped CSK from reaching the score of 200 and he picked up an hattrick. Even though the CSK bowlers tried, they couldn’t get early wickets following which Shreyas Iyer and Prabhsimran Singh guided PBKS towards a dashing victory at Chennai’s home ground at Chepauk.
MS Dhoni Opens Up About CSK’s Defeat
Punjab has taken a huge leap and jumped to second position in the IPL points table, while RCB continues to sit on top spot. After the match CSK skipper MS Dhoni spoke about the loss and highlighted where they lacked.
“I think the batting, yes it was the first time we put enough runs on the board, but I feel it was slightly short of a par score. It’s demanding on the batsmen but we needed slightly more. The partnership between Curran and Brevis was fantastic. I think we need to take our catches. I think Curran is a fighter, we all know. Unfortunately whenever we have tried to give him a chance so far, it was a slow wicket but today’s wicket was the best one we had at home this season. [On Brevis] I think it’s momentum in the middle order and he’s a very good fielder and he has good power so he can hit good balls for boundaries. He brings energy in the field too. We needed that fresh air, someone not caught up in the spiral. He can be an asset going forward.”
