Chennai Super Kings succumbed to their second home defeat of the season against Punjab Kings at the M.A Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Wednesday in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League.
The visitors put CSK to bat first and restricted the champions to 162 runs in 20 overs with some inspired spin bowling from Harpreet Brar and Rahul Chahar. Chennai skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad top-scored for the hosts with his fourth consecutive half-century at the famous Den since taking up the role at the helm of the side.
CSK were offered a promising start to the game thanks to the 64-run opening stand between Gaikwad and Ajinkya Rahane, but following the latter’s Chennai lost wickets at regular intervals.
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Chennai opted to reshuffle the batting order, which did not break their way on the day, as Shivam Dube walked in to bat at No.3 in the ninth over of the innings. The move came as a surprise since Kiwi Daryl Mitchell seemed to have come into his own at the Chennai-based unit with a half-century against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the previous fixture.
When queried about the alteration, CSK head coach Stephen Fleming eloquently revealed the strategy’s rationale. The former New Zealand international expressed the merits of bringing in Dube while the spinners were operating, citing the southpaw’s abilities against the turners.
“The Dube factor was the one,” the 51-year-old began.
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“So you get to the six-over mark and the spinners come on and we felt it was a good time for him to come in,” the former opener clarified.
When Dube was sent back to the hut on his first delivery by Harpreet Brar, Chennai sent Ravindra Jadeja to replace his fallen teammate to control damage and deploy a left-right combination. He revealed that the star all-rounder’s ability to take the attack to the opposition bowling backed the thought.
“Next we also thought about the left and right-hand option with Ravindra Jadeja coming on, he has a positive role as well to come and take the bowlers on, but they bowled well”.
However, as fate would have it, Jadeja met his end on the day as Chahar caught the southpaw in front of the wicket and young batter Samir Rizvi was brought on as an impact player in place of Rahane. Rizvi faced 23 deliveries in his 21-run innings as the PBKS spinners tightened the screws.
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Fleming backed the qualities of Rizvi and his efficiency in going for the big shots while also suggesting that the youngsters would be handsomely rewarded in the grand scheme of things, provided they could also hone their skills in aspects on the cast of mind as well.
“The Rizvi one, we will discuss a little bit more. Might go the other way around with that one, but, again he’s positive in his ability to hit sixes and he’s been good,” the gaffer enumerated.
“But, then again there is the temperament part of it as well that the young players need to learn, so that was a good takeaway,” Fleming signed off.
Punjab managed to successfully chase down the target with 7 wickets and 13 deliveries to spare as Jonny Bairstow and Rilee Rossouw led the pursuit with knocks of 46 and 43 runs respectively.
Chennai, who have registered 10 points this season with five wins and as many losses, stand fourth in the IPL 2024 points tally while Punjab climbed up to seventh with 8 points in ten outings.
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