The bowlers led from the front once again in the early stage of the season as Chennai Super Kings (CSK) secured their first victory of the VIVO Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021, beating Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Match 8 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Friday.

Deepak Chahar’s remarkable four-wicket haul helped CSK restrict PBKS to 106/8 before they chased down the target with more than four overs to spare.

CSK made a cautious start with the bat, chasing 107. Nothing to take away though from the PBKS pacers – Mohammad Shami and Jhye Richardson – who were right on the money with the new ball, conceding only eight runs in the first three overs.

Faf du Plessis then switched gears, smacking 2 fours and a perfectly executed scoop that went all the way for a maximum, scoring 14 off the fourth over by Richardson.

Arshdeep Singh, the star from PBKS’ last game, came into action and dismissed the struggling Ruturaj Gaikwad after the right-hander holed out in the deep.

Moeen Ali was the next man in, and the left-hander was right on the attack, creaming two boundaries off Riley Meredith to take CSK to 32/1 at the end of 6 overs.

Both Ali and du Plessis kept rotating the strike without taking big risks as CSK sailed past fifty in the eighth over, in total control of the chase.

At the halfway mark, CSK were going a touch over 6 runs per over with Moeen Ali doing the majority of hitting. The left-hander came out with positive intent as he smashed a couple of boundaries off the leader of the PBKS bowling attack, Mohammad Shami.

Nothing seemed to work in PBKS’ favour after an overthrow in the 12th over went all the way for four. 

In the next over, Moeen Ali launched one off Murugan Ashwin, over long-on for a maximum. While he was caught in the deep in the same over, he ensured the damage was done after scoring 46 off 31 balls. 

Shami came in to bowl the 15th over and created some late damage for CSK after picking 2 wickets in 2 balls, dismissing Suresh Raina and Ambati Rayudu respectively.

With 4 runs required, Sam Curran finished off the chase in style, with a boundary and CSK chased down the total.

Earlier, CSK and PBKS both retained the same playing XIs from their respective last game, with the former putting the latter in to bat first on a fresh Wankhede surface.

CSK were on fire with the new ball after getting rid of both the PBKS openers.

Chahar castled Mayank Agarwal’s stumps in the very first over, hitting the top of off-stump followed by Ravindra Jadeja’s outstanding fielding effort – a direct hit – inside the circle that ran out the PBKS skipper, KL Rahul.

Chahar was back to bowl the fifth over and there was no stopping the right-arm seamer who struck twice in an over.

First, he dismissed Gayle with a beautiful knuckle delivery after Jadeja took a brilliant diving catch, and later got Nicholas Pooran for a duck, with a short ball that was hit straight to the outfielder at fine leg. 

PBKS were struggling at 26-4 at the end of powerplay. While the CSK seamers were bowling tight lengths from one end, the CSK skipper decided to finish Chahar’s quota as the bowler scalped his 4th wicket of the innings after Deepak Hooda, who struck one boundary, chipped it into the hands of du Plessis at mid-off.

Shahrukh Khan, along with Richardson formed a vital partnership for the sixth wicket, adding 31 runs with the help of three fours and a six, and managed to score some crucial runs against the CSK spinners. 

However, Moeen Ali put an end to the same, crashing one into the stumps of Richardson, providing the sixth wicket for CSK. 

Shahrukh kept the boundaries flowing, despite wickets tumbling at one end and raced off to 39. Dwayne Bravo got Murugan Ashwin out and the PBKS were struggling at 87-7 at the end of the 17th over.

The Punjab Kings brought their hundred up in the penultimate over bowled by Bravo, who conceded only 4 runs.

Shahrukh Khan fell just three runs short of his half-century after he tried to smack Sam Curran for a maximum, only to find Jadeja in the deep. PBKS finished with a total of 106-8, scoring only 6 runs in the final over of the innings.

Brief Scores: Chennai Super Kings 107/4 (Moeen Ali 46, Faf du Plessis 36*; Mohammad Shami 2/21) beat Punjab Kings 106/8 (Shahrukh Khan 47, Jhye Richardson 15; Deepak Chahar 4/13) by 6 wickets