Deepak Chahar's brilliant four-fer laid the foundation as Chennai Super Kings registered a six-wicket win over Punjab Kings at the Wankhede on Friday. Led by Chahar, Chennai's bowling unit restricted Punjab Kings to a below-par 106 for eight in Mumbai.
Chahar ran through PBKS' bowling unit in his very first over by castling Mayank Agarwal's off-stump. Skipper KL Rahul also walked back on 5 thanks to a brilliant throw by arguably the best fielder in world cricket, Ravindra Jadeja.
Batting with Chris Gayle, Rahul was run out by Jadeja while trying to rush for a single. Jadeja rose to the occasion again by grabbing a diving catch to dismiss Gayle for 10. Nicholas Pooran (0) and Deepak Hooda (10) also departed in quick succession, leaving the Punjab outfit reeling at 26/5 in the seventh over.
For Punjab, Tamil Nadu's power-hitter M Shahrukh Khan was the only one to stick in the middle. The new recruit impressed with a 36-ball 47 at a time when his side was tottering. His valiant knock came to an end in the final over bowled by Sam Curran.
Shahrukh stitched a 31-run stand with Jhye Richardson (15) to help Punjab reach a three-figure total. M Ashwin, in the end, added 30 runs with Shahrukh as the duo tried to heal Punjab's wounds.
Chasing a modest 106-run total, Chennai suffered an early blow in the form of Ruturaj Gaikwad, who departed after miscuing his shot off Arshdeep Singh's delivery. Moeen Ali and Faf du Plessis then stitched a 66-run stand for the second wicket and made things easier for the three-time IPL champions.
In the end, the Chennai outfit did suffer a scare as they lost Ali (46), Suresh Raina (8) and Ambati Rayudu (0) within 13 deliveries. Du Plessis, however, stayed unbeaten on 36 as Sam Curran hit the winning boundary in the 16th over, guiding CSK to their first win of the season.
Brief scores: Punjab Kings 106/8 in 20 overs (Shahrukh Khan 47, D Chahar 4/13, D Bravo 1/10, S Curran 1/12, M Ali 1/17) lost to Chennai Super Kings 107/4 in 15.4 overs (M Ali 46, F du Plessis 36 not out, M Shami 2/21).
