Kings XI Punjab finished off their IPL 12 campaign with a convincing victory against table-toppers Chennai Super Kings to finish on a high. The victory was largely built around a sensational knock by KL Rahul who raced off to a half-century in just 19 deliveries and made a mockery of the target of 171 which was set by the Chennai Super Kings.
Earlier in the day, it was Ravichandran Ashwin who won the toss and opted to field. After a 30 runs partnership between Faf du Plessis and Shane Watson, it was the latter who was dismissed by a good delivery from Sam Curran. Faf du Plessis batted brilliantly and was in cue to score a well deserved century.
He paced his innings to perfect and manoeuvred the ball perfectly. He also struck the boundaries on a consistent basis which kept the scoring rate on the higher. He shared a brilliant stand of 120 runs with Suresh Raina. The Punjab bowlers made an impressive comeback in the final few overs and restricted Chennai to a score of 170 runs.
The Kings XI Punjab openers Chris Gayle and KL Rahul came out in the middle to begin proceedings. Rahul got Punjab off to a sensational start as he started enjoying his game from the outset. He kept smashing the CSK bowlers all around the PCA Stadium in Mohali and there was no way back for the visitors.
Rahul scored his half-century in just 19 deliveries which helped Punjab get off to the perfect start they would have hoped for. The duo shared 108 runs in 10.3 overs and made the game dead from there on. Harbhajan Singh made a good comeback towards the later stages of the match and bagged 3 wickets for 57 runs.
After the dismissal of Chris Gayle and KL Rahul, it was Nicholas Pooran who took the onus on himself to get the job done for his franchise. Despite the defeat, Chennai Super Kings was guaranteed a top-two finish.
Now here is what Man of the Match KL Rahul said at the post-match presentation
I’ve been holding myself back till the last game because my role was different – playing 20 overs and holding up one end. We knew there wasn’t much left for us in this game. But sometimes, you have to alter your game and play according to how the team wants, but tonight I was playing much more freely.
It came out very well today, my strike-rate is much higher, but looking back at it from a personal and team point of view, my strike-rate has dropped, but I have won more games for my team this year. You have to curb your shots at times, and if I did that last year, we could have done better. Having runs behind you always helps you play with a lot of freedom and not think too much and just react to the ball – that only helps you when you have runs behind you.