Dharamsala: Ravindra Jadeja orchestrated a masterclass all-round show as Chennai Super Kings regained their winning touch with a comprehensive 28-run win over Punjab Kings in a low-scoring IPL fixture here on Sunday.
Wily leg-spinner Rahul Chahar (3/23) and seamer Harshal Patel (3/24) put up a spirited show but Jadeja made a crucial 43 that came off just 26 balls to prop CSK to a par 167/9 after they were sent in to bat by Sam Curran.
The left-arm spinner then returned to grab three for 20 in four overs in the crucial middle-over phase to derail PBKS’ chase, which ended at 139 for nine.
Comeback pacer Tushar Deshpande (2/35) and impact sub Simarjeet Singh (2/16) also featured among wickets.
Mitchell Santner, who was playing his first match of the season, was brilliant during his tidy 1/10 from three overs.
Eyeing to secure a sixth successive win over CSK in the IPL, PBKS found themselves at 78 for seven against Jadeja’s match-turning spell.
Having lost three of their last four matches, the five-time champions CSK thus returned to winning ways and jumped to third place in the standings.
CSK now have 12 points with three more matches left to secure their playoff spot.
PBKS – eight points from 11 matches – slumped to eighth spot after enduring their seventh loss of the season.
Kiwi left-arm spinner Santner set it up early for CSK. Bowling with the new ball, he gave away just four runs from his two overs and took the key wicket of Shashank Singh (27; 20b, 4×4) against the run of play.
Deshpande inflicted a twin blow, cleaning up Jonny Bairstow (7) and Rilee Rossouw (0) in three balls.
PBKS found some rhythm going as Prabhsimran Singh and the in-form Shashank took the attack to CSK bowlers and collected 31 runs to end the power play on a high.
Prabhsimran smashed Richard Gleeson for one four and a six in a 15-run over, while Prabhsimran took on Deshpande, smacking him for two fours and one six.
It seemed a one-way traffic for the home side before Santner cleverly varied his pace as Shashank holed out to long-on.
Cruising in top gear at 62/2, PBKS went on to lose half of their side in 9.4 overs.
It brought an end to a rollicking 53-run partnership from 36 balls between Shashank and Prabhsimran. Jadeja soon opened his account dismissing Prabhsimran.
Prabhsimran was looking at ease but the opener was enticed by Jadeja’s full ball at the stump.
The right-hander looked to go inside out but lack of pace meant he could not clear the long-off where substitute fielder Sameer Rizvi took an easy catch.
Simarjeet chipped in with a wicket in his first over, dismissing Jitesh Sharma for a first-ball duck.
Jadeja gave away just three runs in his next over, and completed a decisive spell ousting Curran (7) and the in-form Ashutosh Sharma (3) in the 13th over.
As runs dried up, Curran started to feel the heat and took on Jadeja’s widish delivery but he slapped it straight to Santner at long-off.
Ashutosh then perished after mistiming his big hoick to be caught by Simarjeet at third-man to give Jadeja a three-for.
Earlier, at 60/1 in Power Play, CSK were going great guns with skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad (32) and Daryl Mitchell in the middle during an entertaining 57-run partnership when Chahar triggered a collapse taking two wickets in two balls.
The partnership was halted as CSK went on to lose three wickets in 11 balls with Harshal taking the dangerous-looking Mitchell (30; 19b, 2×4, 1×6) in a controversial DRS call.
Harshal returned at the death to dismiss Shardul Thakur (17) and MS Dhoni for a golden duck as CSK’s hopes for a revival went up in smoke.
First, he cleaned up Thakur with a slower off-cutter as the CSK fans in Dharamsala waited for yet another piece of Dhoni magic with eight balls to go.
But the Yellow Army left in disbelief as the talismanic Dhoni departed in the very first ball, unable to counter Harshal’s impeccably executed slow yorker.
With no time to bring his bat down, Dhoni’s off-stump was knocked over.
Punjab kept chipping away at wickets but it was Jadeja who remained firm, quietly going about his ways picking the odd boundaries and sixes to take them to a par-score.
After a silent penultimate over that yielded just two runs for two wickets, Jadeja held his nerves and took on Arshdeep in the final over hitting him for a boundary and a six.
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