IPL 2023, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) vs Punjab Kings (PBKS): Devon Conway's 92, Prabhsimran Singh's 42, Liam Livingstone's 40 are top three performances. Punjab beat CSK and move to 5th spot in points table.
Brief Scores: PBKS 201/6 (Prabhsimran 42, Livingstone 40, Deshpande 3/49) beat CSK 200/4 (Conway 92*, Gaikwad 37, Raza 1/31) by 4 wickets
Player of the Match: Devon Conway (92* in 52 balls)
Fourth-ranked Chennai Super Kings (CSK) took on Punjab Kings (PBKS), who through some inconsistent performances were placed in the sixth position of the 16th season of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday.
Even though CSK had 15 wins out of 27 games against PBKS in their overall face-off, Punjab have won their last three out of four encounters against Chennai.
Collective batting from Punjab pushed them over the line
CSK captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on winning the toss opted to bat first on a pitch which looked dry and was expected to get slow under the scorching heat. PBKS included Harpreet Brar in place of Gurnoor Brar while Chennai Super Kings went with an unchanged eleven.
The opening partnership of Devon Conway and Ruturaj Gaikwad after few cautious overs showed their aggressive mindset to take them to 57/0 in the powerplay. The 86-run opening partnership pushed them to 90/0 at the halfway mark before Shivam Dube’s brutal batting pushed them to 146/2 in 15 overs before Conway’s 92* run knock and a tiny but crazy 13* run innings in four balls from Dhoni carried CSK to 200/4 in their 20 overs.
Both openers, Shikhar Dhawan and Atharva Taide, provided Punjab a great start with 62/1 in the powerplay before CSK pulled it back to 94/2 after 10 overs. The Chennai spinners slowed them down more to 129/3 after 15 overs. But some crazy batting from Jitesh Sharma and Liam Livingstone carried Punjab Kings to a nail-biting victory over Chennai by four wickets.
Talking point: Chennai leaked runs while Punjab batted as a unit
For two consecutive games, CSK bowlers have leaked runs at the death overs and as their captain mentioned there were a couple of overs in the middle phase where they lost the momentum by giving away too many boundary balls.
On the other hand, Punjab Kings unlike their other games batted collectively in this game where besides the openers giving them good starts, the batters in the middle order and lower middle order also contributed immensely.
Let’s scan the top three performances from the game between CSK and PBKS in IPL 2023
Conway stretched his purple patch with unbeaten 92 runs
One of the reasons for Chennai Super Kings to do well in their batting is the golden form of their opener Devon Conway who has been really consistent this season.
Conway began with a couple of back-to-back boundaries against Kagiso Rabada both of which were drilled over the cover region. He controlled the short delivery from Arshdeep Singh down to fine leg for another boundary before smashing Rahul Chahar over long-on region for a beautiful six. With couple of more boundaries against Sikandar Raza, Conway celebrated his fifth IPL half century of the season in 30 balls.
Rabada was smacked in the fine leg for a boundary by Conway who now has unbeaten 21 T20 runs in 13 balls against Rabada. Conway carried the brutal attack with three boundaries against Liam Livingstone through backward point and extra cover before placing Rahul Chahar for couple of boundaries in the leg side to now have 18 unbeaten T20 runs in 10 balls in the face-off.
Devon Conway who now is the second highest run-getter of the season with 414 runs, ended on 92* runs in 52 balls with the help of 16 boundaries and one six. He also now has 666 IPL runs in 16 games at a strike rate of 144.78.
Prabhsimran Singh gave Punjab vital start with 24-ball 42
Chasing 201, Punjab required some aggressive batting at the top before the wicket slowed down and their opener Prabhsimran Singh provided them the much-needed start.
Singh started with a six against Tushar Deshpande over deep square leg before lofting Maheesh Theekshana straight down the ground for a boundary. He used his feet to drive the ball through extra cover before cracking Ravindra Jadeja in the backward point region for a beautiful four. He also nailed Moeen Ali through wide long-on for a six.
Prabhsimran Singh made 42 runs in 24 balls with the help of four boundaries and couple of sixes.
Read More: IPL 2023, KKR vs CSK: Rahane, Dube's masterful knocks power CSK to top spot in points table
Livingstone changed momentum with 24-ball 40
Liam Livingstone was excellent for Punjab in the last season but he has been little cold after coming late in this tournament due to injury.
Coming at 81/2, Livingstone powered Akash Singh over extra cover for a huge six before placing Matheesha Pathirana in the gap between the two fielders through backward square leg for another boundary. For the next few overs, he wasn’t able to hit more big shots. But after the drinks break, Livingstone changed the momentum of the game in the space of four balls. He thumped two back-to-back sixes against Tushar Deshpande over extra cover and long-on before getting a fortunate boundary in the short third man.
Livingstone finished with 40 runs in 24 balls with the help of 1 four and 4 sixes to now have 624 IPL runs in 27 games at a strike rate of 162.92.
Read More: IPL 2023, MI vs PBKS: Curran, Arshdeep help PBKS clinch thriller against MI; Punjab move to 5th spot
Points Table Scenario & What’s Next
Chennai Super Kings remained on the fourth spot with five wins in nine games while Punjab Kings moved up to the fifth place with the same equation.
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) will lock horns with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on May 1 at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow.
IPL 2023 Points Table
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