Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - Live
Super Chahar takes four as Chennai win battle of Kings
CSK ease past Punjab after fast bowler’s brilliant show, du Plessis finishes the job with the bat
KOLKATA: It’s almost impossible to control the degree of swing for any seamer but some are exceptional at it. Deepak Chahar is one of them. He can make the new ball talk. We are not discussing prodigious swing here because that doesn’t hurt much. It’s always that slightest hint of shape, luring the first decisive front foot movement before changing course that keeps batsmen on edge. On Friday, Mayank Agarwal was the latest batsman to walk into that trap.
It wasn’t a very full delivery to begin with. Pitching middle stump, it prompted Agarwal to load up an across-the-line shot. And then it slanted away just enough, opening up Agarwal and taking his off-stump. Dismissals like this can be a blow to the gut. It messes with the heads of the batsmen and leads to implosions. Punjab Kings couldn’t avert it. Chahar went on to take 4/13 and Chennai Super Kings showed that bowling out the opposition for a paltry score is still a good alternative to a final-over finish in T20s.
In his 200th match for CSK, MS Dhoni’s instincts were once again validated. It was Dhoni who had first recognised Chahar’s exploits with the new ball, making him bowl as much as possible in the first powerplay. In Mumbai, he bowled out Chahar’s four overs in one spell. There was a decent likelihood he would do that, given the grass on the Wankhede pitch and the low average per wicket during powerplays on this ground (19.33 compared to 44.5 at Chennai).
“We planned and prepared well for the game today. We had to do a lot of planning because the first two games here were high-scoring,” said Chahar later. Agarwal’s wicket was just the opening CSK were looking for. KL Rahul’s dismissal was a bonus, an unnecessary run gone horribly wrong after Ravindra Jadeja swooped down on the ball at short cover and threw it in the same momentum to catch the Punjab Kings captain short of his crease. Chris Gayle, who had survived a loud leg-before appeal that delivery, did his team no favour by going after Chahar’s full-length and slower ball a little while later. The Jamaican usually takes time to come into his own but Chahar’s invitation was too good to resist. Landing just outside off-stump, the ball forced a scoop off Gayle’s bat that Jadeja lunged to his right to catch. Chahar was on song. These are critical junctures where batting teams should quickly pause and review their strategy. Instead of not going after Chahar, Punjab Kings continued to play their strokes. Chahar too showed he isn’t only about pitching it up and extracting seam. It was his bouncer that caught Nicholas Pooran offguard. It clearly hurried on to him. Taking his eyes off the ball, all Pooran did was pull it straight at Shardul Thakur at long-leg.
Once again it was up to Deepak Hooda, hero of their previous win against Rajasthan Royals, to salvage some pride. But he was easily duped while trying to drive Chahar’s awayswinging delivery. It caught the toe end of his bat and Faf du Plessis had no problem catching it at mid-off. Chahar has now taken 60 wickets in the first six overs since 2016. According to CricViz, no seamer has taken more wickets in this phase.
At 26/5, it was as good as over for Punjab Kings. But Shahrukh Khan saved them some blushes, carving a 36-ball 47. It was still not enough. And CSK were never going to tread anything but a cautious path when victory was offered to them on a plate. Mohammad Shami was getting the ball to shape well. And there were a few scratchy shots too, especially from Ruturaj Gaikwad. Moeen Ali, however, started with a flurry of boundaries that released the pressure on his side. Once they had reached 53/1 at the first timeout with du Plessis at the other end, the odds had tilted heavily in their favour. Brief scores: Punjab Kings 106/8 in 20 overs (S Khan 47; D Chahar 4/13) lost to Chennai Super Kings 107/4 (M Ali 46; M Shami 2/21) by six wickets.
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