A bout of flu forced Tushar Deshpande to miss out on Chennai Super Kings’ home fixture against Punjab Kings earlier in the week. But in the reverse fixture on May 5, the seasoned fast bowler returned to action in style and claimed two for 35 to guide CSK to a 28-run win and bring its Indian Premier League campaign back on track.
After CSK’s innings ended at 167 for 9, it did not seem to be a great total on the HPCA Stadium surface. However, Deshpande struck in his opening over, dismissing the in-form Jonny Bairstow and Rilee Russouw in a span of three deliveries. Punjab Kings could not recover thereon before finishing at 139 for 9.
Coming into the game, CSK’s bowling department had injury concerns with Deepak Chahar and Matheesha Pathirana out of action, but it managed to execute its plans to perfection as Simarjeet Singh — returning to competitive cricket after December 2022 — and Ravindra Jadeja (3 for 20) built on Deshpande’s fiery opening spell.
Prabhsimran Singh and Shashank Singh forged a 53-run partnership for the third wicket and looked on course to guide Kings out of the woods, but things went downhill once Mitchell Santner earned a breakthrough dismissing Shashank. Jadeja followed up dismissing Prabhsimran and triggered Kings’ collapse. The home side lost five wickets for 16 runs.
With this win, CSK kept its playoffs alive despite another dull day with the bat. It lost opener Ajinkya Rahane early, but captain Ruturaj Gaikwad and Daryl Mitchell dominated the Powerplay, taking the tally to 60 for 1.
At that stage, it seemed CSK was on course for a 200-plus total, but things turned quickly as leg-spinner Rahul Chahar broke the partnership and claimed the wickets of Gaikwad and Shivam Dube in consecutive deliveries. It was another golden duck for Dube and having lost three wickets in a space of 11 balls, CSK’s innings needed consolidating.
Jadeja played a handy knock to guide the team breach the 160-run mark, even though batting at No.9 for the first time in his T20 career, MS Dhoni fell in the first delivery. But in the end, it was CSK all the way.
Matheesha Pathirana returns to Sri Lanka
Chennai Super Kings’ Matheesha Pathirana’s outing in the ongoing IPL is all but over as the pacer will return to Sri Lanka to recover from a hamstring injury.
The right-arm slinger played six matches in this IPL, picking up 13 wickets at an economy of 7.68.
“Chennai Super Kings wishes Pathirana a quick recovery,” the CSK stated in a media release.
Pathirana last played for CSK during their 78-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad, where he bowled two overs and picked up the wickets of Aiden Markram and Heinrich Klaasen.
Pathirana missed the match against Punjab Kings at Chennai on May 1 with England pacer Richard Gleeson replacing him.
The unavailability of Pathirana is a big setback to CSK as their bowling stocks have dwindled drastically in the last few days.
Pace bowling all-rounder Deepak Chahar too is set to miss the remainder of the IPL with a niggle he sustained during the match against Punjab at Chepauk.
Chahar walked off the field after bowling just two balls and Shardul Thakuar had completed the over for him.
“Deepak Chahar doesn’t look good. The initial feeling wasn’t great. So, I’m hoping for a more positive report when the physio and the doctor have a look,” CSK coach Stephen Fleming had said after that match.
CSK will also be without Sri Lankan spinner Maheesh Theekshana at least for a couple of more matches as he is expected to fly back to Sri Lanka to complete his USA visa process ahead of next month’s T20 World Cup in the Americas.
Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman’s IPL stint too came to an end in the previous match against PBKS after he has joined the national team for the home T20I series against Zimbabwe.
Scoreboard
Chennai Super Kings: Ajinkya Rahane c Rabada b Arshdeep Singh 9 Ruturaj Gaikwad c JM Sharma b Chahar 32 Daryl Mitchell lbw b Patel 30 Shivam Dube c JM Sharma b Chahar 0 Moeen Ali c Bairstow b Curran 17 Ravindra Jadeja c Curran b Arshdeep Singh 43 Mitchell Santner c Curran b Chahar 11 Shardul Thakur b Patel 17 Mahendra Singh Dhoni b Patel 0 Tushar Deshpande not out 0 Richard Gleeson not out 2 Extras: (LB-1, W-5) 6
Total: (For 9 wickets in 20 overs) 167
Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-69, 3-69, 4-75, 5-101, 6-122, 7-150, 8-150, 9-164
Punjab Kings bowling: Kagiso Rabada 3-0-24-0, Arshdeep Singh 4-0-42-2, Sam Curran 4-0-34-1, Harpreet Brar 1-0-19-0, Rahul Chahar 4-0-23-3, Harshal Patel 4-0-24-3.
Punjab Kings: Prabhsimran Singh c sub (Sameer Rizvi) b Jadeja 30 Jonny Bairstow b Deshpande 7 Rilee Rossouw b Deshpande 0 Shashank Singh c Simarjeet Singh b Santner 27 Sam Curran c Santner b Jadeja 7 Jitesh Sharma c Dhoni b Simarjeet Singh 0 Ashutosh Sharma c Simarjeet Singh b Jadeja 3 Harpreet Brar not out 17 Harshal Patel c sub (Sameer Rizvi) b Simarjeet Singh 12 Rahul Chahar b Thakur 16 Kagiso Rabada not out 11 Extras: (LB-5, W-4) 9
Total: (For 9 wickets in 20 overs) 139
Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-9, 3-62, 4-68, 5-69, 6-77, 7-78, 8-90, 9-117
Chennai Super Kings bowling: Mitchell Santner 3-0-10-1, Tushar Deshpande 4-0-35-2, Richard Gleeson 4-0-41-0, Ravindra Jadeja 4-0-20-3, Simarjeet Singh 3-0-16-2, Shardul Thakur 2-0-12-1.
(with inputs from PTI)
