IPL 2024: Chennai Super Kings vs Punjab Kings, 49th Match - Who Said What?

In a thrilling encounter, the Chennai Super Kings faced off against the Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League match 49th at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. Winning the toss, PBKS opted to bowl first. CSK started with a steady opening partnership between Ajinkya Rahane and Ruturaj Gaikwad. Rahane played a composed innings of 29 runs off 24 balls before falling to a delivery from Harpreet Brar. Gaikwad, leading the team as captain, anchored the innings with a brilliant 62 off 48 balls, providing the much-needed stability.

However, wickets fell at regular intervals for CSK, as they struggled against PBKS's bowling attack. Ravindra Jadeja (24 off 25) and Sameer Rizvi (21 off 23) made valuable contributions, but CSK couldn't capitalise on their starts. Moeen Ali's quickfire 15 off 9 balls and MS Dhoni's cameo of 14 runs off 11 balls propelled CSK to an under-par total of 162/7 in their allotted 20 overs.

PBKS, chasing 163, got off to a solid start with Prabhsimran Singh and Jonny Bairstow. Singh scored a quickfire 13 off 10 balls, while Bairstow played a blistering knock of 46 runs off 30 balls. Rilee Rossouw continued the momentum with a brilliant 43 off 23 balls. However, it was Shashank Singh's unbeaten 25 off 26 balls and Sam Curran's explosive 26 off 20 balls that guided PBKS to victory with 13 balls to spare.

In the end, PBKS chased down the target comfortably, reaching 163/3 in 17.5 overs. Richard Gleeson, Thakur, and Dube took one wicket each for CSK, but they couldn't stop PBKS from securing a convincing seven-wicket win. Harpreet Brar was awarded the Player of the Match for his match-winning innings.

Also Check: 3 Changes CSK should make to get back to winning ways

Losing skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad said: 

Probably 50-60 runs short, the pitch wasn't great when we batted, it got better later on. With the impact rule as well, we were well short. I've practiced the tosses (during the practice sessions), it's not going well in the match, not sure what to do. To be truthful, I'm under pressure when I go to the middle (for the toss). We were also surprised that we won by a big margin in the last match considering the conditions (win by 78 runs against SRH). I think the last two games, the conditions and pitch was better, it allowed us to fight hard and get to 200+, today, it wasn't good enough to get to even 180. It's a real problem (on the player missing due to injuries and Chahal walking away in the first over), there are phases where you want wickets, but you have only two bowlers, the dew took the spinners out of the equation. It was tough, but there're four games left and we will try and come back to winning ways.

Winning skipper Sam Curran said: 

Very happy. Everytime you come to Chennai and take two wins, always a special feeling. Same as last year, we lost a lot of our home games and won away, finding a similar pattern. We are in a position where we need to win all our games, we come up against the same opposition in a few days. I think when you come to Chennai, you now how hot it is and dew is going to settle in. Today we wanted to try something different by trying Rabada in the powerplay. We wanted to use our spinners later on, so took a punt on trying KG within the powerplay. Chahar came back and was the best bowler in the 260 game, and he's bowling with great confidence. He stepped up when I asked him to bowl against MSD in the 19th over. (On bowling Chahar in the 19th) The pace bowlers were going for a bit in the end, and I wanted to try something different. Asked Rilee what he reckoned and took that gamble with spin. In this game where everyone has been going for runs, you need to take such gambles. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. We come against the same opposition so we have one up on them. It is a new game, new conditions but this win will give us a lot of confidence. I think our bowlers were superb, the spinners and Jonny striking them well, even the way we paced that chase, it was brilliant. Need to built on that confidence.

POTM Harpreet Brar said: 

It was a good wicket to bowl on, and even Rahul bowled really well. I have been playing since 6 years, so my confidence has been pretty high. Now bowling to these legends of the game feels normal, I just bowl to my strengths. To be honest, I don't think wickets, my aim is only to bowl lots of dot balls and dot balls create the wickets. When there is spin in the wicket, the bowlers confidence goes up and it is a bit helpful.