In a Nutshell

Shreyas Iyer called it right at the toss and put the Super Kings in to bat. CSK got off to a flyer with their openers, Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis putting on a 100-run stand. Watson played aggressively throughout, scoring at a strike rate close to 200 for his 78. After that, it was an MS Dhoni special (51* off 22) to take the men in yellow to a mammoth 211/4.

Early wickets, false shots and an unnecessary run out of the in-form Shreyas Iyer put us on the backfoot in the first half of the chase. The Rishabh Pant-Vijay Shankar partnership kept us in the game. Both of them scored valiant fifties, but DD took another tough loss.

Carnage from Watson and Dhoni

Trent Boult started off getting perfect shape into the right-hander, as he so often does. It was a loud shout for LBW by Boult that was turned down. The review went against us and to rub salt on Boult’s wounds, Watson flicked the next one to the ropes. Despite that, it was a good over with just 6 runs coming off it. Avesh Khan too started off keeping things tight. He clocked the high 140s consistently and troubled Faf du Plessis, giving away just one run.

But, it was story of two halves within the powerplay. Shane Watson and du Plessis lined up our bowlers up to score 49 runs in the next four overs, a total of 56/0 in the powerplay. Plunkett, who has had a dream run so far, took a pounding. He went for five big ones in his first two overs, leaking 35 runs. It was a brutal innings from Shane Watson. He ensured CSK’s run-rate was close to 10 and his strike rate close to 200 throughout.

Vijay Shankar provided the much-needed breakthrough as du Plessis perished just after the pair brought up their 100-run partnership. Things seemed to be turning in our favour, as Glenn Maxwell came in to bowl and castled Suresh Raina off his first ball.

Veteran leg spinner, Amit Mishra pulled things back further with the wicket of Watson for 78 off 40 balls. A couple quiet overs later, CSK had made 137/3 in 15 overs.

MS Dhoni more than made up for those quiet overs. 21 runs were plundered off the 17th over from Boult, lifting CSK up to 170/3. Regrettably, the onslaught continued. Plunkett had a night he’d like to forget soon. In his 3 overs, he went for 52 runs. In the 8 overs he had bowled previously this season, he had given away just 41.

Off the first ball of the 19th over, Colin Munro dropped a sitter. It was MS Dhoni. It turned out to be a costly drop. In the next 11 balls, he alone scored 21 runs.

It was a bowling performance that the boys won’t be proud of. Barring Avesh Khan and Amit Mishra who went in the sevens, all our frontline bowlers had economies over 11 runs per over. Chasing 212, our batting line-up had their task cut out.

Valiance from Pant, Shankar

The first over from debutant Lungi Ngidi produced just one run as Munro played and missed. The second saw Prithvi Shaw fall for 9 after two cracking boundaries. In overs 4 and 5, a flurry of boundaries came off Colin Munro’s bat. However, he departed at the worst time for us, just when he had gotten going. Rishabh Pant walked in and deposited Watson over mid-wicket first ball. The next one went for four through backward point. With Iyer in the form of his life and Pant going well, a massive partnership between them was what the doctor ordered. The terrible mix-up that led to Iyer’s run out in the next over, was not what the doctor ordered. It was the last thing we needed.

Maxwell lost his wicket for cheap soon after. Rishabh Pant was playing solo at the other end, landing a few big hits. After 12 overs, our score read 97/4 and 115 runs were required from the last 8 overs – a tall order.

Vijay Shankar brought up the 50-run partnership with a six off Bravo over long on. But, the ask was getting tougher and tougher by the ball. With five overs remaining, we were 128/4 and required 84 runs.

Rishabh Pant was showing tremendous fight and he brought up another fifty. 29 runs came from overs 16 and 17, and we were left with 55 runs to get from the final three. Pant departed for an admirable 79 from 45 balls. It was an innings of character from a young man who is building a reputation for himself.

Unfortunately for us, it was one of just two innings of substance on a night we desperately needed our big guns to fire. Vijay Shankar got into some excellent hitting rhythm towards the end and scored his first fifty this season. Alas, it was another case of “so near, yet so far.”

Brief Scores: CSK 211/4 in 20 overs (Shane Watson 78 off 40, MS Dhoni 51* off 22, Glenn Maxwell 1/5, Vijay Shankar 1/22); DD 198/5 in 20 overs (Rishabh Pant 79 off 45, Vijay Shankar 54* off 31, KM Asif 2/43, Lungi Ngidi 1/26)