In yet another thrilling encounter in the Indian Premier League, Mohit Sharma held his nerve in the last over to allow the Kings XI Punjab to get 2 more points on the table with a 4-run victory over the Chennai Super Kings. The equation was simple. Chennai needed 17 off 6 deliveries with Dwayne Bravo and MS Dhoni in the middle. Even though Dhoni was suffering with his back, with the vast amount of International experience of finishing games like these, the match was equally poised.
However, MS Dhoni’s fighting innings, including a last ball six, was not enough to maintain their unbeaten run in the 11th edition. Mohit Sharma employed a clever strategy of bowling wide Yorkers to MS, keeping in mind his injury. The plan clearly worked as the Chennai skipper could not reach out to a couple of deliveries in the final over, which allowed Punjab to breathe easy.
On Sunday, April 15, the Kings XI Punjab batted first at their home ground in Mohali and scored a highly competitive 197. Chris Gayle showed the world that he isn’t the kind of batsman who is there to sit in the dugout and enjoy a cricketing evening. Opening the innings for Punjab, the West Indian batsman smashed his second fastest fifty in IPL- in just 22 balls to give the Kings XI a perfect start along with KL Rahul. His fastest fifty had come in just 17 balls against the Rising Pune Supergiant in the 2013 edition of the tournament.
In response, despite MSD’s special innings (79* off 44 balls) and a good hand from Ambati Rayudu (49 off 35) CSK could only score 193/5.
Both Punjab and Chennai have now 2 wins each in three games and are at the second and third position respectively.