(UTV | INDIA) – After Chennai Super Kings slumped to their sixth defeat in eight games with an 11-run defeat to Punjab Kings at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday, skipper Ravindra rued the lack of good starts from his to-order.
After PBKS posted a challenging total of 187/4 in their 20 overs after being put in to bat, CSK lost early wickets and were on the backfoot inside the powerplay overs. Robin Uthappa went for 1 while sending pinch-hitter Mitchell Santner at No.2 too failed as he departed for nine, followed by the wicket of Shivam Dube for 8. By the seventh over CSK chase was in doldrums at 40/3.
“I think not getting a good start in the first six, we’re not putting runs on the board in the first six. So we need to improve on that and come back strong,” Jadeja said during the post-match interaction. In eight matches so far, CSK’s opening stand has not crossed 25 runs even once. Their opening stands so far have been 2, 28, 10, 25, 19, 7, 0 & 10.
However, CSK got back into the game despite the dismal start with Ambati Rayudu, who after being off the field for the majority of PBKS innings after being hit on his elbow came out to bat in the middle-order with all guns blazing and brought CSK back in the hunt with a blazing 78 off 39 balls which included seven fours and six sixes.
In the PBKS pacers held their nerve to deny CSK a win and while Jadeja lauded Rayudu for his effort, but admitted that they gave away 10-15 runs more than they would have liked.
“I think [Rayudu] was batting brilliantly, but as I said we could have restricted them under 170-175,” said Jadeja, adding, “I think we started very well, with the new ball we bowled in good areas, but I thought we gave away 10-15 runs in the last 2-3 overs and we didn’t execute our plan very well.”
With this win, PBKS moved to sixth on the points table with their fourth win in eight games taking their tally to eight points, while CSK slumped to their sixth defeat this season in eight games.
Shikhar Dhawan, for his 88 off 59 balls, walked away with the Player of the Match award. It was a memorable game for Dhawan as he reached his 6000 IPL runs, only the second after Virat Kohli to reach the milestone and he also became only the eighth player to play 200 or more IPL games.