Mumbai: Shikhar Dhawan scored an unbeaten 88 from 59 balls to guide Punjab Kings to an impressive total of 187/4 in 20 overs against Chennai Super Kings at the Wankhede Stadium here.
Put into bat, Punjab Kings got off to a steady start as captain Mayank Agarwal and experienced opener Shikhar Dhawan, who was playing his 200th IPL match, batted sensibly.
In the second over, Shikhar Dhawan became only the second batter in the history of IPL after Virat Kohli to amass 6,000 runs in the league. In another milestone for the southpaw, he reached the milestone of 9,000 runs in T20s in the sixth over.
Maheesh Theekshana gave CSK the first breakthrough by dismissing Mayank Agarwal for 18 of 21 balls. Bhanuka Rajapaksa joined Dhawan and the duo took Punjab’s total beyond the 50-run mark in the eighth over.
Rajapaksa-Dhawan duo batted brilliantly to strike a fifty partnership and take their team’s total beyond the triple-figure mark in 12.3 overs.
The 36-year old Dhawan went on to score his half-century off 37 balls. Rajapaksa-Dhawan pair kept on hammering CSK’s bowling attack as they notched up a century stand of 63 balls on a wicket where the ball was not coming easy on the bat.
Dwayne Bravo managed to break the 110-run partnership dismissing the Sri Lankan batter to a 32-ball 42. Liam Livingstone walked in to bat and scored 7-ball 19 in order to take the Punjab team beyond the 150-run mark in the 18th over.
Dhawan continued to hit lusty blows and took the Punjab team to 187/4 in 20 overs. Dhawan remained unbeaten on 88 off 59 balls hitting nine fours and two sixes.
Brief scores: Punjab Kings 187/4 (Shikhar Dhawan 88, Bhanuka Rajapaksa 42; Dwayne Bravo 2/42) vs Chennai Super Kings.
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