Former India captain Krishnamachari Srikkanth launched a scathing attack on Chennai Super Kings for its woeful fielding effort against Punjab Kings. He believes it is high time Chennai figures out its bowling and finds a way to restrict opposition before 180 because that is the chasing capacity of the current batting unit. Chennai fell to its fourth successive defeat after falling 18 runs short against Punjab Kings on Tuesday night in a gripping run chase. Punjab’s daunting 219/6 was way out of Chennai’s league as the Super Kings continued their quest of chasing down 180-plus targets for the first time since 2018.
Numerous dropped chances massively hindered CSK’s chances of victory. Punjab, who were reeling at 83/5, capitalised on the invaluable lifelines and blazed its way to a 200-plus target.
“When you give over 130 runs from 83/5 to 219/6 and keep dropping catches, you are never going to be in a winning position, however good you try and chase!” Srikkanth wrote on X.
Throughout the first innings, Chennai players were tilting at windmills in the field, fluffing up match-defining opportunities. CSK’s tragic story of dropped chances continued, and two of those allowed Priyansh Arya to break the shackles and wallop to a 39-ball century.
Khaleel Ahmed was guilty of being caught and bowled in the very first over on a score of six, while Mukesh Choudhary floored it at long-off in the 12th off Ravichandran Ashwin when Arya was batting with belligerence on 73.
The story of missed chances didn’t end there for CSK. The five-time champions paid through the nose after Shashank Singh, who was going about the business with his usual explosive ways, earned a second lifeline when Ravindra dropped a sitter off Noor Ahmad at deep midwicket in the 17th over.
In pursuit of an imposing 220-run target, Chennai got off to a brisk start, with Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra turning the tides and taking the fight against Punjab’s bowling unit. They became the first pair to see off the powerplay for Chennai in the ongoing season. They were steamrolling past Punjab’s bowling unit and raised 61 in 6.3 overs.
After a successful powerplay, Chennai tottered in the middle overs after losing Rachin (36) and skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad (1) cheaply. As the asking rate spiralled to 17 in the last four overs, Conway was swapped for Ravindra Jadeja.
MS Dhoni hammered a quick-fire 27 from 12 deliveries, including three towering maximums, but holed it to Yuzvendra Chahal on the first ball of the final over as CSK fell 18 runs short of victory.
Srikkanth believes it is time for CSK to find out ways to restrict the opposition before 180 and wrote on X, “Its high time csk does something with their bowling and restrict the opponents to less than 180 cos the batting order is not set up for a score beyond that! If CSK has to make a comeback then it all rests on their bowling and not their batting!”
With four defeats on the trot, Chennai will retry their attempt to return to winning ways in their upcoming fixture on Friday against the defending champions, Kolkata Knight Riders, at Chepauk.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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