Chennai Super Kings captain Ravindra Jadeja admitted that the four-time champions are ‘lacking’ in not getting good starts in the first six overs of the ongoing IPL 2022.
CSK fell to their 6th defeat of the season on Monday as the Punjab Kings (PBKS) bounced back in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 with a victory against defending champions by 11 runs at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Chasing a target of 188, CSK lost Robin Uthappa’s wicket early after the opener was caught inside the circle off Sandeep Sharma’s bowling. Ruturaj Gaikwad struck two fours before Arshdeep Singh knocked Mitchell Santner’s stumps as CSK were 32-2 at the end of the powerplay.
CSK skipper Ravindra Jadeja after the match said: “We started off very well, we felt we gave away 10-15 runs extra at the end. We did not execute our plans very well. He [Rayudu] was batting brilliantly, throughout but as I said earlier, if we could’ve restricted them to under 175 it would’ve been good.”
“We are not getting good starts in the first 6 overs, that’s where we are lacking and hopefully we will come back stronger,” the star all-rounder added.
PBKS, who were put in to bat first, made three changes – Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Sandeep Sharma, and Rishi Dhawan were named in the eleven. CSK bowlers started effectively and put openers – Mayank Agarwal and Shikhar Dhawan under pressure after PBKS were 29-0 after five overs.
Maheesh Theekshana provided the opening wicket for CSK in the form of the opposition skipper Mayank Agarwal, who was caught at backward point. Bhanuka Rajapaksa, the next batter, was dropped twice before adding a four and a six to take PBKS to 72-1 at the half-way mark.
Dhawan creamed three fours against Mukesh Choudhary as 16 runs came from the 12th over. The PBKS opener reached his fifty in the 14th over while Rajapaksa thumped a six down the ground. The boundaries kept flowing from the bat of Shikhar Dhawan as the hundred partnership was up for the pair. Bravo put an end to the partnership after Rajapaksa was caught by Shivam Dube in the 18th over.
Liam Livingstone crunched two sixes and one four in the 19th over before the right-handed batter was dismissed in the final over by Bravo. Dhawan remained unbeaten on 88 as PBKS posted 187/4 in the first innings. (ANI)
