MS Dhoni’s 79 goes waste after Gayle plays blinder
MOHALI: It was almost a heist pulled off by none other than MS Dhoni himself. But in the end, CSK went down as Chris Gayle’s knock proved to be the difference between the two sides.
Given a life when substitute Mayank Dagar, in for Mayank Agarwal, fluffed a chance, Dhoni ran CSK close. However, his team fell short by four runs.
CSK’S batting and bowling woes extended to yet another match. While bowlers failed to stop the flow of runs, batting stuttered with only Ambati Rayudu (49) and Dhoni looking comfortable. The chase got off to a slow start with both Shane Watson and Murali Vijay being watchful and trying to settle down. But just when it looked that Watson was opening up, he was caught by Barinder Sran off Mohit Sharma for 11. Andrew Tye and R Ashwin picked Vijay (12) and Sam Billings (9) respectively to reduce CSK to 56 for 3. Ambati Rayudu and skipper MS Dhoni then managed to stitch a useful partnership of 50 runs as they reached 107 for three in 13 overs. Ambati Rayudu and skipper MS Dhoni then managed to stitch a useful partnership of 57 runs to get CSK back in the match.
Earlier in Kings XI Punjab’s innings, Chennai Super Kings began well conceding just 20 off the first three overs. However, what came next shocked them.
Bhajji’s second over, the
fourth of the innings, went for 19 with both Rahul (2x4) and Gayle (1x4 and 1x6) taking the veteran spinner apart. Chahar, who had managed to keep things quiet till then, was hammered for 22 runs by Gayle as the West Indian galloped to his fifty. His half-century came off 22 balls, even as Rahul perished much to the relief of CSK bowlers. Harbhajan provided the
breakthrough. A full-toss hammered in the air by Rahul (37) was caught by a leaping Dawyne Bravo at covers.
By the time Gayle was caught by Imran Tahir off Shane Watson for 63 off 33 balls, Kings XI had reached 127 in 11 overs. After this, CSK managed to put brakes on Punjab who were threatening to cruise past 200-run mark.