Chennai Super Kings (CSK) suffered their third consecutive defeat in the ongoing IPL season as they lost to Punjab Kings (PBKS) by 54 runs at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday (April 3).
Asked to bat first, PBKS rode on Liam Livingstone’s 32-ball 60 to post a highly competitive total of 180/8 on the board. Shikhar Dhawan (33) and Jitesh Sharma (26) also made notable contributions with the bat.
In reply, CSK’s innings folded for a paltry 126 in 18 overs. It was a listless performance from the defending champions as all the batters struggled except for all-rounder Shivam Dube (57 off 30 balls).
Senior players like MS Dhoni and skipper Ravindra Jadeja failed to live up to the expectations. While Dhoni played a slow knock of 28-ball 23, Jadeja perished for a three-ball duck.
After the game, Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar weighed in on Dhoni’s innings, saying the latter had a hard time rotating the strike.
"With MSD, what you see is that even if he doesn't start hitting the big ones, he is moving the strike along, getting those ones and twos. He wasn't quite able to do that this time around. That's where CSK got stuck just that little bit," Gavaskar told Star Sports.
On the other hand, former Australia opener Matthew Hayden opined that the former CSK skipper was 'off his game' and also lauded Shivam Dube for his swashbuckling knock.
"It was a high-class innings from Shivam Dube. Unfortunately, no one could support him. Even MS was off his game a little bit with a strike rate of 80. They were playing catch-up cricket," Hayden said.
Chennai Super Kings will face Sunrisers Hyderabad in their next clash on April 9 at DY Patil Stadium, Mumbai.
(With Star Sports inputs)
