This year’s IPL has consistently seen scores over 200, and anything below that has been a rarity. The number of sixes hit in the tournament is perhaps in the same range of the fours hit, and bowlers have taken a severe beating. Be if pacers of spinners, both have been punished, with no real exception. Yes, there have been bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah and Sunil Narine, who have maintained economy rates under 7, but theirs has been superhuman effort that cannot be replicated by everyone.
But Wednesday witnessed something really special from two Punjab Kings bowlers, who laid the foundations for their team’s win in the first half of the match, vs Chennai Super Kings. Those two bowlers are Rahul Chahar and Harpreet Brar, against who Chennai batsmen struggled in their own backyard. So, let’s talk about them in a little more detail, as well as others.
Punjab’s Spin Twins Weave Magic
When Harpreet and Rahul came on to bowl, one expected them to get some assistance from the Chennai pitch. But they maxed out their efforts and have away only 33 runs in their eight overs, combined. To go with that, they even picked two wickets each, and that is where CSK lost the match. They could not score a boundary for 54 deliveries.
Rabada Does the Job Quietly
In a day dominated by the Punjab spinners, pacer Kagiso Rabada was equally effective. He returned with figures of 1/23 in his four overs, and that meant Chennai were stifled for runs. Rabada was mighty good against struggling Ajinkya Rahane, with his vicious bouncers.
Chennai Batting Flops
First Rahane perished for a low score, followed by Shivam Dube’s duck. Ravindra Jadeja at No. 4 was poor too as he managed two from four deliveries. Sameer Rizvi and Moeen Ali also could not put much impact on Chennai’s score, and that meant the team could only make 162/7.
Dhoni Out for the First Time
Finally some team found out a way to get MS Dhoni out. In all the matches he had played this season, he remained unbeaten in all of them. Not just that, he also ensured that he scored at a rapid pace. But the match against Punjab was different as Dhoni could not hit cleanly and scored 14 from 11 before getting dismissed.
Shivam Dube the Bowler
Even though he failed with the bat on the day, but he impressed in the only over he bowled vs PBKS. In fact, he got the wicket of Jonny Bairstow, who smashed 46 from 30 deliveries. This was for the first time in months, after the Ranji Trophy, that Dube had a bowl.
Mustafizur Plays Last for CSK, Impresses
After the match against Punjab Kings, Bangladesh’s Mustafizur Rahman flew back home, as his NOC from the BCB only extended till May 1. Now he would be gearing up for the T20I series against Zimbabwe, that will begin on May 3. Having said that, Fizz will only play the first match of the series after the third encounter. Just for the record, he ended up bowling a maiden over too.
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