This was the biggest chase ever against CSK at Chepauk and with both teams on 10 points, the race for top-4 has suddenly turned topsy-turvy.
After an afternoon where fortunes fluctuated wildly, it all boiled down to six balls of drama. Sri Lankan slinger Matheesha Pathirana had only nine runs to play with, but the youngster showed remarkable calm to stretch the game to the last ball.
Shahrukh Khan and Raza, both seasoned players, just couldn’t get the big shot and one felt that CSK might just pull it off, yet again. But that was not to be as Raza showed great innovation of the last ball that got them home.
Before Raza’s moment of magic, it was the 16th over which yielded 24 runs that started to turn things around for Punjab Kings. Liam Livingstone climbed into Tushar Deshpande and plundered 22 in four balls before getting out.
The Livingstone assault brought the required run rate down from 14.4 to 12 and then it was over to the Pujab Kings lower middle-order.
Sam Curran took toll of Ravindra Jadeja and after he got out, Jitesh Sharma (21 off 10 balls) showed calm to bring the equation down 15 off 10. Jitesh seemed in complete control and there was an element of drama in the way he got out off Deshpande in the 19th over.
Substitute Shaikh Rasheed caught him inside the rope but slipped and it seemed his foot had touched the rope. But the third umpire decided that Rasheed’s toe was inside the line. Raza, however, ensured that Punjab scrape past the finish line.
While Punjab took the laurels, CSK opener Devon Conway unfurled a masterclass of T20 batting to propel hosts to a decent total. Adjusting to the conditions almost immediately, the Kiwi batter did not look to smash every ball out of the ground.
During the powerplay he waited for the pacers to err in line and pounced on any width, and lofted the spinners only when he got to the pitch of the delivery. Later on, he dished out a wide array of innovative strokes and kept finding the gaps with utmost ease.
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Conway found able allies at various stages of the first innings, starting with Ruturaj Gaikwad (37) with who he put 86 for the opening wicket. MS Dhoni, too, provided the final flourish with two sixes off the final two balls, but on the day it didn’t prove enough.
Brief Scores:Chennai Super Kings 200-4 (Devon Conway 92*, Ruturaj Gaikwad 37) lost to Punjab Kings 201-6 (Prabhsimran Singh 42, Liam Livingstone 40, Tushar Deshpande 3-49, Ravindra Jadeja 2-32) by four wickets.
Watch IPL 2023: Punjab Kings down Chennai Super Kings in last-ball thriller
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