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After Prabhsimran Singh's 42 off 24, Liam Livingstone's (40 off 24) and Sam Curran's (29 off 20) cameos, Sikander Raza hit the winning runs off the final delivery to take Punjab Kings to a 4-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Sunday.
With this win, PBKS moved into the top half of the standings with 10 points while CSK remained fourth with identical points. After opting to bat first, CSK openers Ruturaj Gaikwad (37) and Devon Conway put on an 86-run stand to lay a solid foundation for the team. Then, Sikander Raza provided a much-needed breakthrough as he dismissed Gaikwad for 37 in the 10 over and CSK were 90/1 halfway through the innings. After the dismissal of Gaikwad, Shivam Dube joined Conway and added a 17-ball 28 to the total. In the process, Conway completed his 5th fifty of the season off 31 balls with a boundary through a reverse sweep. When the duo was taking the bowlers to cleaners, Arshdeep Singh brought Dube's quick-fire cameo to an end in the 14th over, trapping him with a slower ball. Then, Moeen Ali smashed Curran's slower ball over extra cover for four before Rahul Chahar got him in the 17th over. But Conway was on his merry ways as he finished the over with two back-to-back boundaries. In the last over, Curran dismissed Ravindra Jadeja and there was a huge roar as M.S. Dhoni came on to bat and dispatched the last couple of deliveries over the ropes and got Chennai to 200/4 in 20 overs. Chasing 201, PBKS started in fine fashion with skipper Shikhar Dhawan and Prabhsimran going after the pacers and the pair added on 50 runs before Dhawan got out and King posted 62/1 at the end of the Power-play. Punjab then lost a couple of wickets in quick succession as Ravindra Jadeja got Prabhsimran in the ninth over and removed Atharva Taide in his next over. With 13 runs per over needed to win, Livingstone and Curran held the fort and kept the scoreboard ticking to keep Punjab in the game. In the 16th over, Livingstone hammered Deshpande for two consecutive sixes, followed by a boundary and another maximum but the bowler was quick to bounce back as he removed Livingstone on the last ball of the over. Afterwards, Curran and Jitesh Sharma tried their best to take the game deep but Matheesha Pathirana had other plans as he struck on the first ball of the 18th over to dismiss the former. With 22 needed off 12 balls, Sharma started the over with a boundary and followed that up with a double. A wide ball later, Deshpande deceived him with a slower ball. When PBKS needed 9 runs off the final over, six came off the first five balls before Raza managed to get the winning runs off the final delivery, that too without hitting a boundary and ensuring victory for his side. Brief scores: Punjab Kings 201/6 in 20 overs (Prabhsimran Singh 42, Livingstone 40; Tushar Deshpande 3-49, Ravindra Jadeja 2-32) beat Chennai Super Kings 200/4 in 20 overs (Devon Conway 92, Ruturaj Gaikwad 37; Rahul Chahar 1-35, Arshdeep Singh 1-37) by four wickets. --IANS bc/bsk ( 565 Words) 2023-04-30-21:02:02 (IANS)
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