IPL 2020: Match 18: CSK hammers KingsXI Punjab

One team which was looking completely out of sorts is Chennai Superkings. They lost 3 matches in a row and they needed some inspirational performance from somewhere to turn the tide. Kings XI Punjab though has been a story of openers. Both Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul have had hit centuries in this year’s IPL but their returns as a team have not been spectacular yet. Both the teams were coming out of defeats and as they headed against each other in Dubai and they needed to come out of the rut. So how did it go?

Here are my 5 points highlights of the match.

1. KL Rahul

Rahul is the current leading run-scorer in this edition of IPL. He along with Mayank Agarwal has been very efficient at the top of the order. Their middle order has not performed at all and hence the onus was once again on Rahul and Mayank to give the team a good start. They started well and put on another half-century partnership. Though Mayank got out, Rahul continued and wanted to bat right through and his wicket towards the end actually stopped KingsXI from reaching the 200 run mark which in the final equation made the difference. Rahul must be happy with his current form but the KingsXI’s situation doesn’t look very good.

2. Shardul Thakur

Other than one or two matches, I have never seen Shardul Thakur not being hit for runs. He is a swing bowler and gets a good amount of movement but when the batsmen nick it – the slips are invariably not there and he ends up giving 4 runs. He follows those good balls with some short pitch stuff and ends up getting hammered in most of the matches that I have seen him play. He is a handy batsman too and has won matches for India and CSK with the bat. Yesterday also he was carted around and when he started his 3rd over (Kings XI’s 18th) – Pooran and Rahul were in full song and I expected them to target him and take their team closer to the 200 run mark. But, Shardul Thakur has a happy knack of picking up wickets and the 18th over turned out to be just that. Thakur took out both Rahul and Pooran in successive balls and he would have got a hattrick too only if a slip was kept against Sarfaraz Khan. In the final equation, this over, turned the match in CSK’s favour.

3. Nicholas Pooran

Pooran is one of the most talented young batsmen to come out of West Indies in recent times. We already saw his acrobatic fielding skills earlier in the tournament. He was yet to fire this year for Kings XI and it was a cause of concern. But yesterday was a new day and Pooran was on song. He hit the ball crisply and he looked in his old self. His strike rate was around 200 and his wicket at the start of the 17th over made a huge difference for Kings XI Punjab. 200 runs was a definite possibility that stuttered to 178 after the fall of his wicket. Kings XI Punjab will be breathing a bit easy now and the openers will be able to play a bit more freely from the next match now that Pooran is back in his elements. Pooran needed to be consistent from here on end.

4. Faf Du Plessis

CSK has had a difficult season thus far. None of their top-order batsmen was in form other than Faf. he already scored two half-centuries and continued in the same zest yesterday too. Faf Du Plessis has a very solid technique which and he plays himself in. Giving the opening slot to him is a very smart decision by CSK. Yesterday he got his eye in and the form of Shane Watson helped because the asking run rate never shot up. He reached his 50 much later to Shane Watson’s but in the end, he overtook him – that’s the advantage of having a player like Faf Du Plessis in the team. 87 off 53 balls led CSK to an easy victory and the team in yellow is back with a bang.

5. Shane Watson

Watson retired from international cricket quite a few years back. Hence it was quite understandable that he was unable to perform in the first few matches for CSK. The good thing was that CSK didn’t drop him because they realised that he needs game time in the middle. Finally, everything came together yesterday. The old version of Shane Watson was back and he started hitting each and every bowler out of the park. Other than Bishnoi each and every bowler were carted around. He was the early aggressor as Faf settled in. To win a match by 10 wickets with more than 2 overs to spare is not something that happens in IPL generally. The match became completely lopsided only because of the great opening partnership that remained unbeaten. 

This win might do great wonders for CSK and they are now back in the hunt. Kings XI would now wonder what’s next. Batting can’t win you matches always – you need your bowlers to perform and that’s not happening for them. They need to come out of this negative momentum pretty quickly to remain in the hunt in this year’s IPL.

So what according to you are the changes that Kings XI needs to bring in? Should Gayle come in to replace Maxwell with Rahul going into the middle order? The 4th and 5th bowler seems to be a problem too – how do they address that?

Let me know your thoughts!

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