Jadeja reaches milestone in Chennai’s win

Chennai Super Kings all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja became the first player with at least 100 catches, 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in the Indian Premier League (IPL) during their seven-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders on Monday.

Jadeja took two catches to reach the 100 mark and also had three wickets in his first eight balls to be named player of the match. He has taken 156 wickets and made 2,776 runs in the IPL.

The 35-year-old joins Virat Kohli (110), Suresh Raina (109), Kieron Pollard (103) and Rohit Sharma (100) for most catches by a fielder in the IPL.

"I don't count my catches," he said during the mid-innings break.

After the match Jadeja said he always enjoys bowling in Chennai. "My plan was just to bowl in good areas. I have practiced a lot here and if you bowl in good areas it will definitely assist you," he added. Chennai, who came into the match after back-to-back losses, are fourth in the standings with three wins from five games.

Captain Fantastic

He has captained Australia to world titles in the Test and 50-over formats, which persuaded the decision-makers at Sunrisers Hyderabad to hand him the reins of the franchise. Pat Cummins leads from the front, and did so again, as his spell of 1/22 bowling in the Powerplayandatothercrucialstages,tookthe teamtoitsfirstawaywinoftheseason,against Punjab Kings.

Cumminsalsomarshalledhisresourcesexpertly,whichleftthehoststoget29inthefinal overbowledbyjaydevunadkat.itshouldhave been a done deal but three dropped catches, two of them parried for sixes, injected some jeopardy in the situation. In the end, the veteran left-arm seamer just about managed to have his wits around him as Sunrisers edged home by two runs.

The win was fashioned, to a large extent, by their skipper, who set up the game with a probing opening spell in tandem with Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Chasing 183, Punjab Kings were chasing the game at 27/3 after the Powerplay. Cummins had sent back Jonny Bairstow,whoseuglyswipeacrossthelinemet only thin air as the ball made contact with the top of middle stump. Bhuvneshwar then got rid of Impact Player Prabhsimran Singh before the SRH captain brought wicketkeeper Heinrich Klaasen up to the stumps to prevent Shikhar Dhawan advancing down the pitch. When the left-hander couldn't help himself, he ran past one angled across him to be stumped.

The overseas duo of Sam Curran and Sikandar Raza got together and seemed to get Punjab Kings back into the game, only for the