Chennai Super Kings Ravindra Jadeja plays a shot during the Indian Premier League 2024 against Punjab Kings in Dharamsala on May 5, 2024.
| Photo Credit: R.V. Moorthy

Chennai Super Kings’ all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja admitted that they fell short by 15-20 runs but lauded their disciplined bowling show in securing a convincing 28-run over Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League in Dharamsala on May 5.

Defending 167 for nine, the five-time champions restricted Punjab Kings to 139/9 with Jadeja claiming a match-winning 3/20, while Tushar Deshpande (2/35) and impact sub Simarjeet Singh (2/16) also featured among wickets.

Mitchell Santner, who was playing his first match of the season, was also brilliant during his tidy 1/10 from three overs.

“We thought we were 15-20 runs short but we did not bowl loose balls in the power play and in the middle overs,” Jadeja said at the post-match presentation.

“The fast bowlers bowled well in the power play. Tushar got two important wickets and then Mitch and me did the job in the middle overs.”

Jadeja struck a crucial 26-ball 43 and the knock came at a time when PBKS were chipping away with regular wickets.

Jadeja said it was tricky batting in the middle overs.

“It was a day game, so the wicket was slow. As usual, it was expected because it was so hot.

“It (the pitch) always seems flat in the power play. But when the ball gets old, it does not always come on. When playing at a new venue, you don’t know how much it will turn or stop.

“My role as a batter is to build partnerships and then play the big shots towards the end. Sometimes, when we lose wickets in the power play, we do not get momentum. In the matches we win, we play all phases well,” said Jadeja.

Skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad made a 21-ball 32, while Daryl Mitchell looked in full flow in a 19-ball 30, taking the team to 60/1 in the power play.

Everyone believed that the wicket was slow and the ball was coming off slow. There was low bounce too. With the start we got, we could have pushed to 180-200. We lost wickets in consecutive balls and then felt 160-170 was probably ten odd runs short,” said Gaikwad.

It’s not too late for Simarjeet: Gaikwad

Simarjeet impressed with his pace after he came in as an Impact Player replacing Ajinkya Rahane.

“I don’t know what he is doing but in the pre-season we had, he was bowling at around 150s.

“We had Deepak (Chahar), Shardul (Thakur), Tushar (Deshpande) plus (Matheesha) Pathirana and Fizz (Mustafizur Rahman), so he did not get too many chances. Nothing is late, he got a game today.

“We were thinking of sending an impact batter but we thought the impact batter would score 10-15 runs but the bowler might get us two-three wickets,” Gaikwad said.

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)

Defending champions Chennai Super Kings will look set their house in order and get back to winning ways when they face Punjab Kings for the second time in a row in the IPL in Dharamsala on May 5.
| Photo Credit: ANI

These are crucial times in the Indian Premier League, and Chennai Super Kings seems to have lost the momentum having suffered three defeats in its last four outings.

The reigning champion will be hoping to address its injury concerns and return to winning ways in the reverse clash against Punjab Kings at the HPCA Stadium on May 5.

Despite Shikhar Dhawan’s absence, Kings earned a well-deserved seven-wicket win against the same opponent earlier this week, and they will hope to ride on that momentum. Bowling coach Sunil Joshi said that PBKS plans to field an unchanged eleven, while changes are likely for CSK as injured Deepak Chahar is ruled out and concerns remain over the availability of Maheesh Theekshana.

However, CSK bowling consultant Eric Simons clarified that Tushar Deshpande, who was down with flu, has recovered and will be back in action.

An inconsistent middle-order has troubled CSK. The batting has so far revolved mostly around captain Ruturaj Gaikwad and the in-form Shivam Dube. However, as the race for the playoffs intensifies, expectations will be high from M.S. Dhoni, while the seasoned Ajinkya Rahane and Ravindra Jadeja need to step up. On a surface that might help the seamers, Kagiso Rabada will look to bowl a tight spell with the new ball alongside Arshdeep Singh. The host’s batting looks steady with Prabhsimran Singh back among runs and Jonny Bairstow in good form.

However, at the crucial junctures, Shashank Singh and Ashustosh Sharma need to keep the middle-order going.

Teams

Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), MS Dhoni (wk), Aravelly Avanish, Ajinkya Rahane, Shaik Rasheed, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, RS Hangargekar, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Daryl Mitchell, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Nishant Sindhu, Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Mukesh Choudhary, Mustafizur Rahman, Matheesha Pathirana, Simarjeet Singh, Prashant Solanki, Shardul Thakur, Maheesh Theekshana and Sameer Rizvi.

Punjab Kings: Shikhar Dhawan (c), Matthew Short, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sikandar Raza, Rishi Dhawan, Liam Livingstone, Atharva Taide, Arshdeep Singh, Nathan Ellis, Sam Curran, Kagiso Rabada, Harpreet Brar, Rahul Chahar, Harpreet Bhatia, Vidwath Kaverappa, Shivam Singh, Harshal Patel, Chris Woakes, Ashutosh Sharma, Vishwanath Pratap Singh, Shashank Singh, Tanay Thyagarajan, Prince Choudhary, Rilee Rossouw.

Match starts: 3.30 PM.