IPL 2018: Match 56, CSK vs KXIP- Who Said What

Prior to the match, it was paramount for Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) to win the contest if they wished to move into the playoffs. Moreover, they also required to romp home by a fair margin in order to edge the Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) Net Run Rate in order to become the fourth team to qualify. However, they were unable to do so as Chennai Super Kings (CSK) comprehensively beat them by five wickets to end their campaign.

Lungi and Karun shine

MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to bowl first on the wicket with a tinge of green over it. The start was a horrible one for Punjab as they lost KL Rahul, Chris Gayle and Aaron Finch in quick succession to find themselves in shambles. Lungi Ngidi and Deepak Chahar took full toll of the conditions. Manoj Tiwary and David Miller tried to stage a comeback with a partnership of 60 runs in 43 balls.

However, Tiwary was nipped out by Ravindra Jadeja following which Dwayne Bravo castled Miller with a searing Yorker. The visitors needed someone to put his hand up and rescue them and it was Karun Nair who put his hand up and scored a brilliant 54 runs off 26 balls to inject momentum into KXIP’s innings. The knock lifted the hosts to 153. Lungi was Chennai’s standout bowler with four wickets for ten runs.    

Punjab scrambled but CSK too hot to handle

Punjab had 100 runs to defend in order to edge Rajasthan into the playoffs. Ambati Rayudu and Faf du Plessis opened the batting, however, Rayudu couldn’t survive long and fell prey to Mohit Sharma. Faf du Plessis and Suresh Raina threatened to take the match away from Punjab with a stand of 24 runs, but Ankit Rajpoot had other ideas and he dismissed Du Plessis and Sam Billings in successive deliveries.

Aaron Finch dropped Harbhajan Singh in the slips and it cost them as Bhajji scored 19 runs. Deepak Chahar’s onslaught of 39 runs of 20 overs took the sting out of Punjab bowlers. In the 15th over, CSK ended Punjab’s campaign as they breached the 100-run mark. Raina piled yet another half-century to take Chennai closer. MS Dhoni finished the match off with a massive six off Mohit Sharma.

Ravichandran Ashwin, the skipper of Kings XI Punjab, said

Tough days at the office. We didn’t bat very well. Lost three wickets in the powerplay and from there it was going to be catch-up. Karun got us a good score but it was always 20-30 runs below par. We put down a catch. It never came together in the latter half of the tournament. We had a decent April but a horrible May. We had Ankit who swung it around in this conditions. Should’ve latched onto the catch, but that happens in cricket. Even in the first half we were playing in Mohali. KL and Gayle were making most of the runs but the middle-order didn’t click at all which was expected, which hurt us in the latter half of the tournament.

Ankit did really well, and of course KL was amazing. We have the purple cap holder in Tye as well. So loads of positives but we haven’t applied ourselves. We haven’t commanded any respect at all in terms of getting results on our own terms. The game against RCB costed a lot, not only in terms of run-rate but especially in terms of morale. We were not really there in terms of performance on such a day, but CSK were better today. A good team culture will help us win tournaments in the future, so I’d like to build that culture slowly in this new-look franchise and we’ll look to do much better next time.

MS Dhoni, the skipper of Chennai Super Kings, said

If you see their bowling line-up, it was definitely swinging a bit more for Ankit. From a captain’s perspective, you want to take as many wickets upfront. So sending in Bhajji and Chahar creates chaos. The bowlers all of a sudden bowl yorkers and bouncers. When batsmen are batting, they stick to a good line and length, but against Bhajji and Chahar, they lose their line and lengths, instead of sticking to the plan. Plus Bhajji and Chahar could come in handy during the playoffs. Owners have been brilliant. We have a set of people who are close to the players.

They have a history of understanding the game. That makes the job easy for the captain. Also if you don’t have a good team, it becomes difficult. We kept adding players and they kept performing. The big shift will be after two years, where most of these players won’t be there. Maybe they won’t be fit for the shortest format. Looking at ten years, it has been very good for us. We like to do the process right because that’s what gives you the result. There are quite a few finals where I still remember what went wrong. When the format is like this, just a couple of big hits or a run-out can change things. Everyone wants to win. They’ve done well to go into the knockout stages. The top two teams they get extra life. What’s important is to be at your best on that particular day.

Lungi Ngidi, the player of the Match, said  

Very good day out. Really didn’t expect it to go that far, but will definitely take it today. Usually sub-continent stays a bit low and slow. When Chahar bowled the first over today, I couldn’t stop grinning on the side. CSK is a team which really values family values. Just the cricketing mind and brain Dhoni has, it’s helped me.

For all the latest cricket news and other updates follow CricTracker.