Punjab kings 201 for 6 (Prabhsimran 42, Livingstone 40, Deshpande 3-49, Jadeja 2-32) Super kings of Chennai 200 for 4 (Conway 92*, Gaikwad 37) with four wickets
With nine to win from the last left, Raza and Shahrukh Khan could not hit any limits against Pathirana’s falling supplies. After a single, a leg bye, a punt and two deuces off Pathirana’s yorkers and slower balls, Kings needed three on the last ball. Raza shuffled across and pulled a shorter, slower ball over the square leg, landing it right between the deep fine leg and the deep midwicket to secure three and seal the win with his arms up.
The two points moved Kings to 10 points alongside three other teams, and to fifth on the table, just behind Super Kings on net run rate.
Livingstone turns the tables at the right time
Super Kings were favorites as Liam Livingstone and Sam Curran struggled to score freely over Pathirana and Maheesh Theekshana. With 72 to win from 30, Livingstone had to face Tushar Deshpande and knock over three sixes in four balls with four leg byes in between. Even though he fell off the fifth ball of the over, Kings still had Jitesh Sharma and Shahrukh to come, and the 24-run over brought their comparison back to 48 from 24.
Curran and Jitesh hit sixes off Ravindra Jadeja in the 17th, but Pathirana would bowl two of the last three overs. He cleared Curran’s stump with a stunning full throw that swerved past his perimeter, and with 22 needed on 12, Kings went after Deshpande in the 19th to try and make sure they didn’t leave too much for the last one left. Jitesh praised the first ball over cover for four and came to a contentious decision two balls later when substitute Shaik Rasheed caught him at the wide long boundary nearly touching the boundary pads with his foot. With 15 required on eight, Raza shoved his first ball for four to make it a 13-run over.
Although Pathirana put in an excellent last over, Raza manipulated the field perfectly to choose one-and-twos and sealed the game with a hard-run three.
Boundaries rain in Kings’ power play, but no further
Kings emerged at gunpoint in a steep chase. Shikhar Dhawan danced down the second ball and then hit 21 from nine balls in Akash Singh’s first two overs. Prabhsimran Singh took on Theekshana’s carrom ball at the other end in a 12-run fourth over, and Kings raced to 46 without a loss in four overs.
Dhawan cut Deshpande to a close third in the fifth over and fell for 28, but Prabhsimran kept his foot on the pedal with at least one boundary and left before being stumped off a 100km/h Jadeja delivery in the ninth. It was then that Kings suffered a slowdown, with Atharva Taide managing just 13 of 16 before falling to Jadeja in a three-run 11th over. Livingstone and Curran struggled to score freely against the Sri Lankan duo, scoring just 22 runs in overs 12 against 14, pushing the ask percentage above 12. But Livingstone soon broke the chains against Deshpande and Kings was back on track.
CSK makes a fast start on a slow pitch
The Kings’ bowlers had to bowl in the relentless heat of Chennai, and they had to sweat further at the hands of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway. Gaikwad showed excellent timing while Conway took the air route more often, such as when he hit Curran for back-to-back boundaries over the ground in the sixth over, going for 16. Super Kings, who had the fewest wickets in the power play this IPL , ended the phase at 57 for 0.
Conway crushes fifty, Dube promoted to hire spinners
Spinners would always take center stage with Chepauk. Kings lead spinner Rahul Chahar was introduced in the power play and the openers grounded a six of him each to push the run rate to nine. Conway also won successive fours from Raza’s flat offbreaks before the bowler unleashed a legbreak and Gaikwad stumped for 37.
Super Kings promoted Dube to counter the spinners, and he also drew Kagiso Rabada for six shortly after Conway Raza reverse-sweep to raise a 30-ball fifty.
Conway is in charge of the middle-overs
At 121 for 1 after 13, Kings brought back Arshdeep Singh, who struck when Dube hollowed out too long attempting his third six. Super Kings continued to send out left-handed batters – Moeen Ali came in next – and they continued to attack the spinners. Conway and Moeen skipped a round from Livingstone for a 16-run 15th, and Conway hit two more fours with sweeps from Chahar, before Arshdeep and Rabada slowed things down a bit with 11 boundary-free balls in the 18th and 19th overs.
The Dhoni Show
Super Kings once looked for 200 but was 185 with one run left. Two hundred looked even further away when Jadeja fell off the first ball of the 20th and Dhoni only managed one of his first two balls. But when Dhoni got the hit back, he smoked two sixes to end the innings, an uppercut and a punch to the legs from a low full-toss from Curran. Conway was unbeaten on 92 out of 52 with 16 fours and a six.
Vishal Dikshit is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo