Mumbai: When playing evening T20 games in the subcontinent, the team bowling second mostly finds itself under pressure because dew makes the ball difficult to grip.
In their first home game of the season, at the M A Chidambaram Stadium, on Friday, Chennai Super Kings had reasons to worry after losing the toss against Punjab Kings and being put into bat.
At the break, though the dew had yet to set in, which was good news for the home side bowlers. Having posted a total of 209/5 they would have been fairly confident of defending the runs.
But, for them to win, getting a couple of early breakthroughs was important. To their supporters’ disappointment, that didn’t happen.
Punjab Kings opener Priyansh Arya, used as an Impact Player, came and played a blinder. His 11-ball 39 (3 fours and 4 sixes) provided his team with a dream start, helping it score 61 in just 4.2 overs before his dismissal.
Once the left-handed batter returned to the dugout, his opening partner Prabhsimran Singh took over. After playing second fiddle to Arya in the Powerplay, scoring just 25 runs off 23 balls (including 5 fours), Prabhsimran took the onus of maintaining the tempo on himself. In his first over from spinner Noor Ahmad, he hit a six and a four. After 8.4 overs, Punjab were cruising at 95/1.
However, just as CSK looked to have run out of ideas, a terrible mix-up between Prabhsimran (43 off 34 balls) and Cooper Connolly gave them the breakthrough they needed; the opener was run out while attempting the second run.
After hitting to the mid-wicket region, Prabhsimran wanted two but Connolly backed out and left him stranded. CSK owed the wicket to Sarfaraz Khan’s alertness; after Noor Ahmad fumbled, Khan swooped on the ball and fired an accurate throw at the bowler’s end. PBKS had lost both their openers for 95/2.
After Connolly holed out off an Anshul Kamboj full toss, the equation was 83 off 49 balls.
That’s when Captain Shreyas Iyer walked in and expertly took control of the chase, completing a fine 50 off 26 balls. When he was eventually dismissed on the last ball of the 17th over, his team needed just 24 off 18 balls with six wickets still remaining.
Marcus Stoinis and Shashank Singh completed the formalities for a five-wicket win for a confidence-boosting 200-plus run chase.
Iyer made the difference with his big hitting. He started by hitting a couple of sixes off the spinner Rahul Chahar. In the 15th over, he plundered Matt Henry for 15 runs to bring the runs down to 47 off 30 balls.
As for CSK, as the old guard is making way one by one with only M S Dhoni left among their stalwarts, the Chennai team fans are waiting to see who will take on the mantle. Top-order batter Ayush Mhatre is one of the youngsters they are excited about and on Friday, he showed what the fuss is all about.
The youngster from Mumbai underlined his potential with an explosive knock, entertaining the crowd with a fine display of six-hitting during his 73 runs (43 balls, 6 fours, 5 sixes).
He impressed the CSK management during his debut season last year, scoring 240 runs in 7 innings at an average of 34.29, a high strike rate of 188.97, and a highest score of 94.
The aura around Chepauk as CSK’s fortress has diminished in recent seasons and Punjab have dominated their recent encounters, including winning their last match at the famous ground.
It was important that their batting performance came in front of the CSK fans in the first game at home of the season. The below-par batting in their season opener against Rajasthan Royals at Guwahati where they were bundled out for a mere 127, had revived doubts of what to expect after a dismal last season where the yellow brigade finished at the bottom of the pile.
It was a game where CSK were well served by all three of their batters from Mumbai. Batting at No 6, Sarfaraz came up with an impressive 12-ball 33 run cameo and Shivam Dube provided a strong finish with an unbeaten 45 (27 balls).
Sarfaraz’s innings came at a crucial stage of the game in the middle overs when CSK had lost three wickets for 20 runs (between 12th to 14th overs). The way he played the field was a treat to watch, picking up three fours on a trot twice.
Sarfaraz first did that against Punjab’s main pacer Arshdeep Singh and then gave the same treatment to Vijaykumar Vyshak.
Sarfaraz helped push the total to 168 but if CSK had to challenge the strong Punjab batting, they were in need of a strong finish. The onus was on their towering left-hand batter, Dube. The southpaw held his composure under pressure and waited for the right match-ups to play his shots and push the total past 200. However, it was not enough on the day.
Punjab have two wins in two now. It was CSK’s second straight defeat.
