Mumbai: England Liam Livingstone’s all-rounder performance and brilliant bowling helped Punjab Kings beat Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by 54 runs in an Indian Super League match here on Sunday. This is a disappointing start for CSK in any Indian Premier League (IPL), suffering their third consecutive defeat.
A half-century from Livingstone (60) and his 95-run stand for the third wicket with Shikhar Dhawan (33) made Punjab Kings 180 for eight in 20 overs after recovering from the initial setbacks. Chasing this target, CSK were given continuous setbacks by the Punjab Kings bowlers in which no batsman could play a big innings except Shivam Dube’s 57-run half-century. Apart from him, only former CSK captain and wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni could score 23 runs. Due to this the team was bundled out for 126 runs in 18 overs.
Rahul Chahar was the most successful bowler for Punjab Kings, taking three wickets for 25 runs while Livingstone took two wickets for 25 runs in three overs. Vaibhav Arora made his IPL debut with two wickets for 21 runs. CSK lost four wickets in the powerplay and were 27 for four in six overs.
Opener Rituraj Gaikwad (01) could not contribute in this match as well and in the second over, Kagiso Rabada (1 for 28 runs in three overs) was caught by Dhawan on a good length ball. In the next over, second opener Robin Uthappa (10) became Vaibhav Arora’s first IPL wicket.
Moeen Ali could not even open the account and became his second victim by being bowled by Vaibhav Arora. Now captain Ravindra Jadeja was on the crease but he also could not open the account which was bowled by Arshdeep Singh. Ambati Rayudu (13) was given a simple catch to wicketkeeper Jitesh Sharma on a short pitch ball from Odeon Smith and the score was 36 for five.
Shivam Dube again batted well, hitting two consecutive sixes on Rabada in the 14th over to complete his half-century in 26 balls and was supporting Dhoni well. But Livingstone ended the innings of Dube, who tried to handle the innings with a 62-run stand for the sixth wicket. But soon after his dismissal, Dwayne Bravo kept walking as soon as he came. Dwayne Pretorius hit a six on Rahul Chahar on the first ball as soon as he came and fell victim to the same bowler after two balls.
After the 16th over, the team’s score was 107 for eight, with 74 runs needed in the last four overs. Dhoni hit a six in the next over with a slog sweep over deep midwicket off Livingstone and then hit a four at short third man. On the first ball of the 17th over, Jitesh Sharma appealed for Dhoni’s catch on the ball of Rahul Chahar but the umpire refused. But a confident wicketkeeper Jitesh Sharma immediately took a review and he turned out to be right, forcing the umpire to change the decision.
CSK’s last hope was over as soon as Dhoni left. Then it was reduced in the 18th over as soon as Chris Jordan was dismissed. Livingstone (five fours and as many sixes) played an important role in Punjab Kings’ comeback from the fall of two wickets as the team made 72 for two in the powerplay.
The start was poor after Punjab Kings were invited to bat after losing the toss. He lost the wicket of his captain and opener Mayank Agarwal in the second ball of the innings, who, after sending the first delivery of Mukesh Chaudhary for a four, touched his outgoing ball with the bat and gave an easy catch to Uthappa standing in cover.
The team was yet to recover from the setback that Bhanuka Rajapakse (09) was run out in which was worth seeing the agility of former CSK captain Dhoni. Before being dismissed by Rajapaksa, Jordan (2 for 23) was sent for a six at fine leg.
Dhawan (four fours and a six) and Livingstone batted first. Then in the fifth over, Livingstone hit two sixes and three fours, smashing the deliveries of Mukesh Chaudhary (1 for 52). Even before his second six, the team had completed 50 runs in 4.5 overs. 26 runs were added in this over.
Inspired by Livingstone, Dhawan also opened his hand in the next over after hitting Dwayne Bravo (1 for 32 runs in three overs) for a six at long on and sent the next ball over cover for a boundary. He also ended this over by hitting a four on the final leg. In the powerplay, the score became 72 for two wickets.
Captain Jadeja (1 for 34) came to bowl in the seventh over, whose first ball was sent by Livingstone for a blazing six at long off. But the team also missed the opportunity to get Livingstone out in the same over when Ambati Rayudu missed his catch on the last ball. But Rayudu compensated for this by taking the catch of Livingstone off Jadeja in the 11th over. But by then this batsman had completed his work in his innings of 32 balls. This was also Jadeja’s first wicket in this IPL season.
Dhawan (33) earlier got caught in Bravo’s net on the last ball of the 10th over, whose easy catch was caught by Jadeja and the third wicket partnership of 95 runs in 52 balls with Livingstone also ended and this strengthening partnership was ended. CSK got success in breaking. But in the same over, Livingstone also completed his half-century by hitting a six at fine leg off Bravo.
In this way, in 10 overs, Punjab Kings had scored 109 runs for three wickets. Jitesh Sharma, who made his debut for Punjab Kings now, was at the crease. But after the fall of Livingstone’s wicket, Shah Rukh Khan (06) came to bat with him at the other end. Jitesh Sharma was batting well, but a slow delivery from Dwayne Pretorius (2 for 30) ended his 17-ball 26 with three sixes.
There was a time that the team would score more than 200 runs but the CSK bowlers made a comeback as Punjab Kings could only manage 33 runs in the last five overs and lost three wickets (Shahrukh Khan, Odeon Smith and Rahul Chahar). Gave it. Kagiso Rabada made 12 not out and Rahul also scored 12 runs.