CHENNAI: By the time the batting powerplay ended, the match was as good as over for Chennai Super Kings. Punjab Kings' total of 180 didn't look all that daunting at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. The smile on Chennai captain Ravindra Jadeja's face after winning the toss and choosing to bowl first was revealing. That teams have been preferring to chase keeping the dew factor in mind was not surprising, but for Chennai, it was all the more important.
Having lost two successive matches, Chennai desperately needed this win. Lose here to Punjab and the road ahead will not get any easy, particularly in a format where you play four opponents only once. And despite their bowlers doing a good job after Liam Livingstone (60 off 32b) threatened to take Punjab to a total beyond Chennai's reach, the defending champions' batting unit lost the plot at the top. Ruturaj Gaikwad, Robin Uthappa, Moeen Ali and Jadeja were back in the hut inside the powerplay, leaving Chennai reeling at 27/4. And from there on, Chennai headed only one way, towards, their third successive defeat in the campaign, a feat they had never experienced in their history.
It was a total contrast to how Punjab had started their innings with the bat. Despite losing Mayank Agarwal and Bhanuka Rajapaksa within the second over, they still managed to get 72 runs in the powerplay without the loss of any further wickets. That in Livingstone, they had a free-wheeling batter, who was always going to attack at all points only made it difficult for Chennai. 72/2 became 109/3 by the end of 10 overs. At that stage, 200 looked very much within Punjab's reach.
The flipside of Chennai missing Deepak Chahar means it has allowed them to strengthen their seam-bowling depth with their overseas recruits. That Dwayne Bravo, Dwaine Pretorius and Chris Jordan can be counted to bowl in the latter half of the innings and also contribute with the bat is a luxury that only a few teams can enjoy. And this alone seems to be the only area, which is going in a positive direction for Chennai. Bowling full or Yorker lengths wide of off-stump and by mixing their lengths, all three have a knack for bowling to the fields. And on a day where Chennai conceded 180, the three collectively gave away only 85 runs in 11 overs and shared five wickets between them.
Against teams that have enough firepower in the batting, but are thin on depth, striking early wickets is the ideal scenario. With Chahar missing, Chennai have been unable to get those early breakthroughs. They have picked up only three wickets in the powerplay overs in the three matches they have played and it is beginning to reflect on the overall outcome.
The story is ditto with the bat. In the first match against Kolkata Knight Riders, they lost two wickets in the powerplay and followed it by one against Lucknow Super Giants. And on Sunday, they lost four. With Chahar missing and the need to strengthen their bowling meant Chennai had to omit opener Devon Conway, a steady man at the top. If bowling was a concern against Lucknow, it was batting that failed against Punjab as Chennai remain winless.
Brief Scores: PBKS 180/8 in 20 ovs (Livingstone 60; Jordan 2/23, Pretorius 2/30) bt CSK 126/7 in 18 ovs (Dube 57; R Chahar 3/25 Livingstone 2/25, Vaibhav 2/21)