Du Plessis, Watson shine as Chennai bounce back to end 3-game skid with Punjab rout

Mohammad Abdullah, Staff Reporter

A ruthless duo of Shane Watson (83) and Faf du Plessis (87) put up a clinical performance to steer Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to a facile 10-wicket win against Kings XI Punjab in their IPL match in Dubai on Sunday.

With the much-needed win, Chennai ended their three-game skid to bounce back in style, registering their second victory of the season.

Both the openers dominated the Punjab bowlers and made light work of a fighting total of 178, as Chennai knocked down the winning run without losing any wicket with 14 balls to spare.

They shared an unbeaten 181-run partnership for the first wicket – the second highest opening stand in the IPL after the 185-run partnership between Jonny Bairstow and David Warner of Sunrisers Hyderabad against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in 2019.

Du Plessis and Watson looked in sublime form and exposed the chinks in the bowling armour of Punjab, who failed to take a single wicket. They made their intent clear right from the beginning when Watson hit Sheldon Cottrell for two boundaries in the first over of the innings.

After that there was no looking back, Watson hammered Jordan for four boundaries in the sixth over to collect 19 runs, taking the score to 60 without loss at the end of the first power play – Chennai’s best in the tournament so far.

Both of them were so identical in their approach and style as each played 53 deliveries and  hit 11 boundaries with Watson hitting two more over the fence than his partner Du Plessis, who hit just one six during his stint at the crease.

Watson was the more brutal of the two as he raced to his fifty with two consecutive boundaries off Jordan in just 31 deliveries. Du Plessis also reached his fifty with a single off 33 balls. Both the batsmen completed their half-centuries in the 11th over bowled by Jordan.

Punjab captain Rahul tried all his permutations and combinations in bowling to break the partnership but none of his bowlers could even stop the flow of runs.

The pair put the ordinary looking bowling attack to the sword and plundered runs all over the ground as Chennai redeemed for their howlers to sail to an emphatic victory, which catapulted them to the sixth spot from the bottom. Punjab with one victory from five games remain at the bottom of the table with just two points.

Earlier, riding on yet another fifty by captain KL Rahul, Punjab posted 178/4. Rahul and Mayank Agarwal (26) laid down a good foundation with a 61-run partnership for the first wicket.

Piyush Chawla gave Chennai their first breakthrough by getting rid of Agarwal to add one more scalp to his swelling IPL wicket tally.

Chawla is the third highest taker of all time at the IPL behind Delhi Capitals’ Amit Mishra, who has 160 scalps in 150 games and Mumbai Indians’ Lasith Malinga, who is the leading wicket-taker in the tournament with 170 victims in just 122 games.

After the departure of Agarwal, Nicholas Pooran and Rahul combined to put up 58 runs for the third wicket, taking the score to 152/3 in 17.1 overs.

Pooran, who smashed a blitzkrieg 33 of 17 deliveries, holed out to Jadeja off Thakur at the boundary rope. On the next ball, Rahul also edged a snick to Dhoni as Punjab lost two wickets off consecutive deliveries.

Glenn Maxwell (11) and Sarfraz Khan (14) played out the rest of the overs without any further damage as Punjab posted a healthy total of 178 in their allotted 20 overs.