Punjab Kings' Shikhar Dhawan, Kagiso Rabada outperform CSK by 11 runs

The Punjab Kings (PBKS) brought home the victory against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by 11 runs at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, Monday. This is the sixth loss for Chennai in the eight matches they have played. As for Punjab, this is their fourth win in eight games.

All the Kings players worked hard in the game to beat CSK in this match. But behind the win, there was a huge contribution from Shikhar Dhawan, supported by an impressive bowling performance from Kagiso Rabada. In the match, PBKS recorded a total of 188 for four. For the most part, it was the result of Dhawan and Bhanuka Rajapaksa's 110-run partnership for the second wicket.

Then, the Super Kings were capped at 176 for six, although Ambati Rayudu's counter-attack from 78 was only 39 balls. Rayudu hit three straight sixes and four to hit 23 runs from the 16 overs Sandeep Sharma threw as Chennai needed 70 runs from the last five overs. On the Punjab side, Kagiso Rabada and Rishi Dhawan each managed to collect two wickets.

Shikar Dawan's performance in the opener was impressive and managed to score 88 points to beat Rayudu. Dhawan hit 9 fours and two sixes to increase Punjab's energy to 187. Later, Punjab managed to limit CSK to 176 for six. Apart from his impressive performances, he also made history. The 36-year-old cricketer managed to become the second batsman after Virat Kohli to complete 6,000 runs in IPL history.

PBKS vs CSK

In the match, Chennai won the toss and was free to make a choice and they decided to bowl first. Pursuing the target of 188 runs, CSK was only able to record 176 runs in 20 overs and they lost 6 wickets. Rayudu played the highest inning of 78 runs for CSK. Apart from Rayudu, Ruturaj Gaikwad recorded 30 wickets while captain Ravindra Jadeja took 21 runs.

Meanwhile, Punjab made a sluggish start to the match. Their skipper Mayank Agarwal came out sixth for 18 from 21 balls. The Kings were only able to reach 37 for 1 after powerplay over. Luckily, Dhawan and Rajapaksa could save the Punjab scoreboard with singles and doubles play. The maximum strength of this duo managed to bring Punjab to 72 for 1 in the mid-round.

The Kings were quite lucky because they only had one chance to place one wicket in the first half of the half and they did not repeat the mistake again and tried their best in solving it. Punjab managed to add 64 runs in the remaining 5 overs. All-rounder Liam Livingstone, the England player whom Punjab bought for Rs 11.5 crore in the IPL mega auction, featured just a handful of 19 run-offs seven balls, and two sixes to the top.

In the last over, Chennai needed 27 runs to win. Meanwhile, CSK fans hope that MS Dhoni can shine and will play the decisive round with a victory. But unfortunately, in the process, the 40-year-old cricketer was caught by Bairstow.

With their sixth loss in eighth matches so far, Chennai's hopes of reaching the playoffs also seem to be on the verge of being dashed. The Super Kings are in 9th position in the IPL 2022 points table. Meanwhile, at the same time, Punjab who won over CSK has 8 points with their fourth win in 8 matches they have done so far. With this win, the Punjab has reached the 6th position in the points table.