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Former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) MS Dhoni has been destructive in the slog overs. His cameos have not only enthralled fans but pushed CSK’s score to a winning score often. Against Punjab Kings (PBKS), he came to bat with 13 balls left in the innings. When Dhoni kept the strike to himself for the penultimate over, PBKS stand-in captain Sam Curran gave the ball to leg-spinner Rahul Chahar, a ploy which has worked for many against the hard-hitter. The move worked and Dhoni could not hit a single boundary in Rahul’s over. After PBKS’ seven-wicket win, Curran revealed that it was not his idea to introduce the spinner but Rilee Rossouw’s.
“Today we wanted to try something different by trying Rabada in the powerplay. We wanted to use our spinners later on, so took a punt on trying KG within the powerplay. Chahar came back and was the best bowler in the 260 game, and he's bowling with great confidence. He stepped up when I asked him to bowl against MSD in the 19th over,” Curran said in the post-match presentation.
“The pace bowlers were going for a bit in the end, and I wanted to try something different. Asked Rilee what he reckoned and took that gamble with spin. In this game where everyone has been going for runs, you need to take such gambles. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't,” he added.
Rahul’s economical bowling
Rahul started with two dot balls against Dhoni before he took a single. On the fourth ball, Moeen Ali went for a slog and got bowled. New batter Daryl Mitchell took a single and Dhoni kept the strike for final over with another single. The leggie conceded just three runs in his final over. Earlier, he got the wicket of Ravindra Jadeja. The 24-year-old conceded 16 runs from his quota of four overs.
Curran was lacklustre with the ball conceding 37 runs from three overs. But he made an impact with the bat scoring 26 runs from 20 balls in the run chase of 163. This was PBKS’ fourth win from 10 games. They are placed sixth on the points table.
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