Punjab Kings got massive two points after beating Chennai Super Kings by 11 runs. They needed this win to stay in the race for qualifying for the playoffs after losing the last two games. Jadeja won the toss and elected to field first at Wankhede. Punjab didn’t get off to a flying start and lost their skipper in the powerplay.

But it was a Shikhar Dhawan show after that. Dhawan and Rajapaksa built a 110 run stand to help PBKS post 187/4 after 20 overs. It was not going to be an easy task to chase that total down against a quality Punjab bowling. Ambati Rayudu did show some glimpses of his best to take CSK near the winning line but they fell short by 11 runs.

Let’s look at the talking points of the Punjab Kings vs Chennai Super Kings game-

Shikhar Dhawan show against CSK

It was Dhawan’s 200^th IPL game of his career and what a game he had against his favourite opponent CSK. Dhawan remained unbeaten till the end and played a superb knock of 88 runs off 59 balls. After Agarwal’s early dismissal, Dhawan needed to stay there for the PBKS. In his 88-run knock, he scored nine fours and two sixes. After this innings Dhawan has now more than 100 runs against CSK, 6000 plus runs in the IPL, and 9000 plus runs in T20s.

Ambati Rayudu’s fightback

Coming on to chase, CSK’s top order failed early. It was Ambati Rayudu who turned his game on in this occasion and played a gem of an innings of 78 off 39 balls. He looked a bit tired during the last couple of balls that he played even though he did not field in the first innings after getting injured while fielding in the first over. Rayudu hit 6 sixes and 7 boundaries in total including three consecutive massive ones against Sandeep Sharma in one over.

Another poor showing by Ravindra Jadeja in Punjab Kings vs Chennai Super Kings

The newly made CSK skipper has been totally off-colour with both bat and bowl in this tournament. He has only managed to pick 5 wickets and scored 112 runs in 8 games. That is a shadow of his actual class. Against Punjab, he could not finish his spell as he was too expensive in his two overs giving away 18. CSK needed Jadeja to play a finisher’s role but he could only manage to score 21 off 16 balls when the asking rate was over 12.

 Punjab’s classy death bowling

When there are finishers like Jadeja and Dhoni in the opposition, PBKS needed to give their best in the death overs to defend a score at Wankhede. Arshdeep Singh and Kagiso Rabada did their job superbly well to contain them. Arshdeep, who has been the best death bowler in this tournament, once again kept his cool and finished his spell with the figures of 1/23 in four overs. Rabada on the other hand picked up Gaikwad and dangerous Rayudu in the vital time to shift the momentum towards PBKS. He also finished his spell with figures of 2/23. Both of them provided an economy under 6 which was eventually the game-changer.