Injured Dhoni's career-best fails to overshadow Gayle-blitz, Kings XI win by 4 runs

Chennai Super Kings won the toss and kept the trend of fielding first alive against the hosts Kings XI Punjab at Mohali.

Injured MS Dhoni’s career best T20 score was not enough to take Chennai Super Kings over the line as hosts Kings XI Punjab won another thrilling encounter by 4 runs at Mohali.

Dhoni remained unbeaten on 79 – his best IPL score – but even his last-over six was not enough. The 198-run target proved to be daunting enough for the Super Kings, who finished with 193 for 5.

It was always going to be tough to chase down almost 10 an over but Super Kings never really looked in the game but for the last three overs, where Dhoni went berserk, rolling the clock back to his heydays.

Dhoni, cripled by a back spasm, was having a tough time clearing the fence against the Kings XI spinners led by young Mujeeb Zadran but he somehow found the energy to fightback the pain and a poor run of form during the second time-out. Super Kings needed 64 in the last four, they managed to score 59, mainly becuase of Dhoni, who from 32 off 26 went to 79 off 44, scoring 47 runs off the last 18 balls with five sixes.

The slow start and even slower batting during the middle overs proved to be costly for the visitors. Dhoni's decision to persist with Jadeja at No. 4, despite Bravo being in the form of his life, did not help either.

For KXIP, Tye picked up two wickets but went for 47 runs in his four overs.

Kings XI Punjab

Managing his berth in the playing XI after two games, ‘Universe Boss’ Chris Gayle went all-guns blazing against Chennai bowling attack on Sunday. Riding on Gayle’s 33-ball 63 blitz Kings XI Punjab posted a mammoth 197 in their quota of 20 overs. The Gayle-storm blew IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali at a strike-rate of over 190. The 38-year-old clobbered seven boundaries and four astronomical sixes in his knock which also involved half-century off 22 balls. Opener KL Rahul’s (37 off 22 balls) knock got completely overshadowed by six machine’s onslaught.

Welcome to Chris Gayle, IPL! 😎
Keep watching #KXIPvCSK: https://t.co/A6y2PyY164#VIVOIPL #KhelDekhGameDikha @henrygayle @lionsdenkxip pic.twitter.com/LrUbV8isJJ

— Hotstar Canada (@hotstarcanada) April 15, 2018

But post the openers’ 96-run butchering, poor middle order batting combined with some intelligent bowling by Chennai in the latter part of the inning restricted Punjab’s total under 200. At one stage a certain 240 was on the cards but Mayank Agarwal (30 off 19 balls) and Yuvraj Singh (20 off 13 balls) failed to capitalize on the starts.

Towards the end Karun Nair (29 off 17 balls) pulled off some lusty blows but couldn’t take Punjab past 200.

For Chennai, DJ Bravo (4-0-37-1) and Imran tahir (4-0-34-2) pulled things back in the second half of the innings. Bravo’s superb last over produced just 5 runs ruining Punjab’s joy. Shane Watson too bowled brilliantly clinching the most important wicket of Chris Gayle.

Toss Report

Chennai Super Kings won the toss and kept the trend of fielding first alive against the hosts Kings XI Punjab at Mohali.

The two champions, which is struggling with injuries to its key players was forced to make one change. Suresh Raina, was forced to miss his first match for CSK and he was replaced by Murali Vijay.

“Pitch looks good as of now, quite a few venues are getting dew so it is always good to chase. We have a forced change. Suresh Raina is not fit, he is not ready so Murali Vijay comes in place of him. I look good and I don't have any serious niggle. Yes, we are a team of over-aged people so we have,” said Dhoni.

Kings XI made two changes, Chris Gayle came in for Stoinis and Axar Patel, who has a niggle, made way for Barinder Sran.

“Too early to get any spice in the tournament. We don't know where we are heading towards in the tournament. We will treat it just as a normal game. We have got two changes. Unfortunately, Axar Patel has a small niggle and he misses out. Barinder Sran comes in place of him and Chris Gayle is in for Marcus Stoinis,” said Ashwin.

Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Murali Vijay, MS Dhoni(w/c), Sam Billings, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Deepak Chahar, Harbhajan Singh, Imran Tahir, Shardul Thakur

Kings XI Punjab (Playing XI): Lokesh Rahul(w), Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Aaron Finch, Yuvraj Singh, Karun Nair, Ravichandran Ashwin(c), Andrew Tye, Barinder Sran, Mohit Sharma, Mujeeb Ur Rahman