PUNJAB SUPER KINGS

CHENNAI: The Punjab Kings team’s preparation heading into Sunday’s Indian Premier League 2023 match against host Chennai Super Kings was far from ideal.

Punjab suffered a demoralising defeat at the hands of Lucknow Super Giants in Mohali on Friday and made the trip to Chennai the following day. Since the PBKS contingent had to travel on the eve of the match, the players, barring a few, could not go through the paces on Saturday.

But, all that hardly mattered on Sunday as Punjab pulled off the highest successful chase by a visiting team at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.

PBKS was set a gigantic target of 201 by CSK that elected to bat first and was grateful to in-form opener Devon Conway’s (92 not out off 52 balls, 16 fours, 1 six) exquisite knock. After letting the home team post 200 for four, Kings just about managed to cross the finish line – off the final ball of the nail-biter – with four wickets left in the bank. Both Punjab and Chennai are now locked on 10 points each.

Defending nine runs in the last over, slinger Matheesha Pathirana brought down the equation to three runs required off one ball. Sikandar Raza (13 not out) worked the ball over square-leg fielder Maheesh Theekshana, who was positioned inside the 30-yard circle.

Sikandar Raza and Rahul Chahar celebrate the win

Theekshana successfully chased the ball down and crucially prevented it from hitting the rope, but by the time the throw was made to the striker’s end, Raza and Shahrukh Khan (2 not out) completed three. Tushar Deshpande’s expensive final spell, where he went for as many as 33 runs off two overs (16 and 19), proved costly in the end.

Liam Livingstone (40 off 24 balls, 1 four, 4 sixes) gave impetus to the chase, blasting Tushar for three sixes in the 16th over, ahead of which PBKS needed 72 runs. Openers Prabhsimran Singh (42 off 24 balls, 4 fours, 2 sixes) and Shikhar Dhawan (28 off 15 balls, 4 fours, 1 six) set the tone early while Sam Curran (29 off 20 balls, 1 four, 1 six) and Jitesh Sharma (21 off 10 balls, 2 fours, 1 six) took Punjab close to the target.

Earlier, Conway, turning into a ‘run machine’ in canary yellow, was at his free-flowing best and remained unconquered for a second home match in succession.

The South Africa-born New Zealand international, who had smashed an unbeaten 77 in the businessman-like victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad here two weeks ago, accumulated the majority of his runs in the ‘V’ and over the square-leg region. Conway reached his half-century with an unorthodox reverse sweep off spinner Raza, but could not complete what would have been a well-deserved ton.

The left-right opening combination of Conway and Ruturaj Gaikwad (37 off 31 balls, 4 fours, 1 six) yet again laid the platform as the duo stitched 86 runs off 58 balls. Raza (1/31) provided the breakthrough for the visiting side when Ruturaj danced down to a wide delivery but was stumped by Jitesh.

Devon Conway at his fluent best

Shivam Dube (28 off 17 balls, 1 four, 2 sixes) was promoted to No.3 by Super Kings, which sent one left-hander after another – Moeen Ali (10) and Ravindra Jadeja (12) being the other two – to take on the opposition’s slow bowlers. As a result, left-arm spinner Harpreet Brar, drafted into the starting eleven, was not called up for bowling duty by skipper Dhawan.

While his partners had brief stays in the middle, Conway remained undefeated, walking back to a rousing reception from the capacity crowd. Super Kings captain MS Dhoni (13 not out off 4 balls, 2 sixes) delivered a final-over masterclass, smacking left-arm pacer Curran for maximums off the essay’s last two balls.

BRIEF SCORES: Chennai Super Kings 200/4 in 20 overs (D Conway 92*) lost to Punjab Kings 201/6 in 20 overs (Prabhsimran 42, L Livingstone 40, T Deshpande 3/49, R Jadeja 2/32)