Hello and a warm welcome to yet another blog on the daily match reviews on this year’s IPL. I will cover the games held on the double-header Sunday, where CSK took on PBKS at the most picturesque ground at Dharamshala and LSG took on KKR at the Ekana, so let’s get started!
Punjab Kings VS Chennai Super Kings | H. P. C. A Stadium, Dharamshala
Sam Curran won the toss and opted to field first in the first game played at Dharamshala this year. Rahane fell early but Ruturaj and Mitchell stitched a good partnership but this time Ruturaj fell right after the powerplay, which was followed by a flurry of wickets. Some useful contributions from Jadeja and Shardul gave the Super Kings 167, a below-par total. But Tushar got Bairstow and Roussow early, but Prabhsimran and Shashank counter-attacked beautifully. However, similar to the CSK batting collapse, when Shashank was caught, a wicket fell almost every over and the Kings were reduced to 139, as the Super Kings won by 28 runs, taking them to the 3rd spot.
In a chaotic game at Dharamshala, both CSK and PBKS would be disappointed with their batting as it was a 180-190 track and both teams had batting collapses. The Kings would be happy with the performances by Rahul Chahar and Harshal, the latter deceiving MSD first ball and silencing the yellow army. But CSK won the game comfortably, even though getting a below-par total and the main reason I feel is this masterful strategy: They got in Santner instead of the Fizz and also brought in the extremely talented Simarjeet, who impressed with his pace. Santner was brought in at the perfect moment in the tournament as he is a smart bowler and like how Harpreet Brar, except this game, wins the game for his team by bowling many dot balls, Santner does exactly the same thing. He was super economical and also got a wicket in the process, which released the pressure off Jadeja as well, who was at his supreme best today. Even without their best pace bowlers, this team, the Fizz and Pathirana looks far more balanced as Santner adds another batter for CSK. So CSK were reduced to 167 thanks to some slower ones by Harshal and some beautiful spin bowling from Chahar but Tushar getting two big wickets early, Santner putting the breaks and Jadeja and Simarjeet running through the middle-order clamped the scoring rate of a batting side that is fresh from chasing 263 at Eden were humbled to 139. PBKS now are playing at a different home ground, and am observing that this is happening quite often for them in the IPL, which should be taken care of and won’t give them the home advantage to win their first title in the future.
Lucknow Super Giants VS Kolkata Knight Riders | Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow
KL Rahul won the toss and opted to chase in another high-scoring track at the Ekana. The KKR top-order took complete advantage of this and scored at about 12 an over, with Sunil Narine supported well by Salt and Raghuvanshi. KKR lost a flurry of wickets once Narine departed, but cameos from Shreyas and Ramandeep gave KKR a massive total of 235, about 40-50 runs above par. LSG lost Arshin early but KLR and Stoinis played an eye-catching 50-run partnership but KLR left soon and his side completely collapsed since that and were bundled out for 137, giving KKR a massive win by 98 runs, jumping to the first spot in the points table.
In an embarrassing loss for LSG at home, it felt that they never came up with a proper plan for Narine, who plundered 7 sixes on a ground which is considered to be a huge one. A main problem for LSG this game was their fielding which was definitely under-par. Another thing they would want to address is that once Stoinis or KLR get dismissed, the middle-order should still hold fort and control the innings, but today they were completely destroyed by some disciplined bowling by KKR, led by the two lethal spinners, Chakaravarthy and Narine, who again were economical and took 4 wickets together and hats off to their consistency. LSG would just summarize it as an off-day, but this game is very important to them, as a win would almost ensure qualification but now have to win 2 of their last 3 games. So overall, a complete all-around performance by the Knight from Kolkata, destroying the Super Giants in their home ground by 98 runs.
So that’s it for today. Tomorrow I will cover the game between MI and SRH, which will be an entertaining one. So stay tuned for that!