Catches certainly win matches as Punjab Kings took advantage to beat the 3 times Champions by 18 runs with new kid in town Priyansh Arya slapping the yellow shirts with his maiden century of 103 runs in 42 deliveries striking at 245 with 9 sixes and 7 boundaries with Shanshak Sing contributing a solid 52 and Marco Jansen proving he is no mug with the bat stroking 34 runs as the new stadium at Chandigarh in Mohali erupted with the home side compiling a competitive score of 219 for 6 wickets yesterday.
For visitors, Chennai Super Kings getting a win in this game was important because they have not played to their potential in the last three outings. A fourth loss on the trot could not only keep them in the bottom half of the points table, but the chances of qualifying for the play offs a difficult scenario.
The boys in Yellow had the home team under check in the first 10 overs. They looked comfortable when danger man Glenn Maxwell lost his wicket with Punjab Kings on 83 in the 7th over, but fielding errors coupled with butter fingers by the CSK fielding unit contributed immensely for their down fall.
Khaleel Ahmed scalped 2 for 45 whilst Ravichandran Ashwin 2 for 48 bowled with intent despite the pitch being batter friendly, Noor Ahmed looked off colour scalping just one wicket for 32 runs in 3 overs, but the off colour performance of strike bowler, a death overs specialist, Matheesha Pathirana leaking 52 runs in his four over spell indicated that Chennai Super Kings were doomed for a big chase which they have failed in their last 11 outings.
220 on Indian pitches is close to a par score. Rachin Ravindra and Devon Conway got their franchise to a good start compiling 59 runs in the power play overs with Rachin Ravindra scoring 36, however, it must be stated that the continued failure of Captain Ajankya Rahane is having its toll on the rest of Chennai Kings batting cordon.
Shivem Dube could be a sugar coated pill most times. He gets a good start but throws it away showing imminent signs of immaturity. The tall left-hander made 42 but thought that his job was done and dusted by expecting someone else to do the rest.
Conway retired on 69 to let M.S. Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja to complete the task with the score on 171 for 4 wickets in 17.2 overs, but the pair basically senior statesman failed, and Chennai Super fell short by a big margin of 18 runs.
Lockie Ferguson was impressive with his 2 for 46 on a highway of a pitch.
Chennai Super Kings now languish in 9th place with a negative run rate whilst Preeti Zinta, the owner of PBKS was in good cheer as her team is in the top four.