CHENNAI: All-round Ravindra Jadeja (43 runs from 26 balls and 3/20) helped Chennai Super Kings beat Punjab Kings by 28 runs at the HPCA Stadium, Dharamsala on Sunday.
Chasing 168, Punjab were off to a horror start. Tushar Deshpande struck not once but twice to send both Jonny Bairstow and Rilee Rossouw packing. First, an inswinger to the right-hander and then an outswinger to Rossouw meant two clean bowled reduced PBKS to 9/2.
However, Shashank Singh and Prabhsimran Singh came out all guns blazing. They hit 15 runs off Richard Gleeson and followed it up with another 16-run over against Deshpande.
Things took a turn when Mitch Santner was brought back. The New Zealander removed Shashank for 27 runs from 20 balls and Jadeja piled on with the wicket of Prabhsimran.
Simranjeet Singh added to Punjab's misery as Jitesh Sharma's poor form continued. Punjab were 72/5 at the halfway mark.
They had pinned all the hopes on Sam Curran and Ashutosh Sharma, but Jadeja sent back both the batters in the same over. It was only a matter of time from there as Punjab scrapped their way to 139/9 in 20 overs.
Earlier, Ajinkya Rahane's poor form continued as he fell in the second over for nine runs. Joined by Daryl Mitchell, Ruturaj Gaikwad kept the innings going. Gaikwad flicked Kagiso Rabada for a four before Mitchell took on Arshdeep Singh. Mitchell and Gaikwad hit Harpreet Brar for 19 runs as Super Kings finished the powerplay with 60/1.
Soon, things went downhill. Rahul Chahar struck twice to send back both Gaikwad and Shivam Dube in his first over. Harshal Patel trapped Mitchell on the pads, putting CSK in trouble.
Jadeja tried to keep the innings going with consecutive fours off Harshal while Moeen Ali went after Rabada. However, it was short-lived as Curran removed Ali. Santner too fell shortly after, leaving Chennai at 122/6.
However, Shardul Thakur hit 17 from 11 balls before getting out to Harshal. MS Dhoni walked out to bat but Harshal delivered a dipping yorker to clean him up.
From thereon, Jadeja (43 off 26) delivered a couple of big hits to take Super Kings to 167/9.