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Jadeja leads Chennai to victory

football05 May 2024 13:56| © MWP
By:Neil Manthorp
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CSK © PhotoShelter

Ravindra Jadeja played the key role with both bat and ball to help the Chennai Super Kings to a much-needed 28-run victory in their IPL match against the Punjab Kings in their IPL match at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala on Sunday afternoon.

Jadeja top-scored with 43 from just 26 balls in a disappointing 167 for nine after Chennai were asked to bat first but it proved more than enough with Punjab crashing to 139 for nine, with Jadeja’s left-arm spin claiming 3-20 in his four overs.

Fellow left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner was no less impressive after bowling the first over in the Power Play and conceding just 10 runs from his three overs with the vital wicket of Shashank Singh for 27.

Seamer Tushar Deshpande (2-35) set the tone for the run chase by clean bowling dangerous opener Jonny Bairstow (7) and the equally dangerous Rilee Rossouw (0) with consecutive deliveries while Jadeja accounted for top-scorer Prabhsimran Singh for 30.

Earlier, Punjab legspinner Rahul Chahar led a fine bowling and fielding performance, claiming two wickets in two balls for figures of 3-10 after three overs before Jadeja clubbed him for a six and a four to see him finish with a still impressive 3-23.

Chahar had in-form CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad (32 off 21 balls) caught off a thin edge by ‘keeper Jitesh Sharma and then repeated the dismissal to see Shivam Dube depart for a second golden duck in consecutive matches against the same opposition.

New Zealander Daryl Mitchell (30 off 19) may be liable for some of his match fee after showing dissent at an ‘umpires call’ lbw decision to seamer Harshal Patel (4-0-24-3) who was excellent at the back of the innings, clean bowling both Shardul Thakur (17) and MS Dhoni (0) with consecutive deliveries.

Punjab captain, Sam Curran (1-34), induced a miscued hook by countryman Moeen Ali to end an awkward innings of 17 from 20 balls but Jadeja gave the Super Kings a fighting chance with three fours and two sixes before he was caught on the boundary with two balls of the innings remaining.

Kagiso Rabada continued his impressive recent form with 3-0-24-0 but it was nowhere near enough to affect the result.

The home team are floundering in eighth place on the log with just four wins and eight points from their 11 matches so far and are now almost certainly out of contention for the playoff stages.

The visitors and defending champions, Chennai, have climbed back into a share of fourth place with victory and have wins in 11 matches alongside the Lucknow Super Giants and Sunrisers Hyderabad, albeit with a superior net run-rate.

PUNJAB KINGS: Jonny Bairstow, Rilee Rossouw, Shashank Singh, Sam Curran (captain), Jitesh Sharma (wkt), Ashutosh Sharma, Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Rahul Chahar, Kagiso Rabada, Arshdeep Singh

CHENNAI SUPER KINGS: Ajinkya Rahane, Ruturaj Gaikwad (captain), Daryl Mitchell, Shivam Dube, Moeen Ali, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (wkt), Mitchell Santner, Shardul Thakur, Richard Gleeson, Tushar Deshpande

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