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)

Mumbai Indians’ captain Hardik Pandya and Punjab Kings’ stand-in captain Sam Curran during the toss ceremony before an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 cricket match between Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Mumbai Indians (MI) at Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur, in Mohali, on April 18, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Punjab Kings’ cricketer Ashutosh Sharma’s exploits with the willow drew enormous praise from Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya as well as his team’s stand-in captain Sam Curran, with the former terming it an “unbelievable” display.

Ashutosh and Shashank Singh have emerged as the unlikely heroes for Punjab Kings this IPL season but the failure of the top-order has seen the team slump to ninth spot in the IPL table despite the some breathtaking performances from the duo.

On Thursday, Ashutosh virtually took the game away from Mumbai Indians with his 28-ball 61 before PBKS lost by nine runs chasing 193.

Ashutosh also executed a stunning sweep shot against pacer Jasprit Bumrah, something which has not been done quite often against India’s pace spearhead.

“Unbelievable, playing the way he (Ashutosh) did and hitting the ball off the middle. (It is) great for his future. We did speak in the timeout about it, not about how we look, we will keep fighting and make sure (that) we don’t bowl the soft balls. Batsmen played good shots but we were soft in certain overs,” Mr.Pandya said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

The MI skipper heaved a huge sigh of relief with a close win, stating that every player’s nerves got tested in the game.

“(It was a) very good game. Everyone’s nerves got tested. We spoke that the characters will be checked in this game. But (it is) natural (that) you (would) think you are ahead but IPL has a tendency to show that oppositions can come back and how,” Pandya added.

Punjab Kings’ stand-in captain Sam Curran said it was heartening to see youngsters like Ashutosh and Shashank rising to the occasion, despite losing some close matches in the recent past.

“Another close one, I think this team likes a close one, but unfortunately another loss. Another incredible knock from the young guy (Ashutosh), but another close loss,” he said.

“It’s very tough. We have lost a lot of wickets at the start, the way the younger guys have taken the team so close is heartening.” “They have incredible confidence, you see a guy like Ashutosh having the confidence to play the sweeps and the big hits against pacers, it’s so great to watch them in action,” Curran said.

The Englishman said there were a lot of positives to take from such close defeats.

“It’s disheartening to lose close games, but there are a lot of positives in this team. We still have the belief in us, we believe we can turn this around, the sun will come up tomorrow and we will hopefully get on a winning run,” Curran said.

The player of the match Jasprit Bumrah, who bowled a brilliant spell of 3/21 said it was a much closer game than he anticipated.

“(It was a) much closer game than what we thought. (I) want to make an impact early on. In this format, ball swings for two overs, and you want to make use of that,” he said.

Bumrah said the T20 format is cruel for bowlers and is tilted in favour of batters. “This format is a little difficult for the bowlers because the batsmanship is going over, plus the time restrictions and the Impact Player rule. What you can do is prepare your best and back yourself,” he said.

“Go out there and give your best. I try to relay messages from wherever I am on the field. You don’t want to give too many messages,” Bumrah added.