IPL 2022 | CSK vs PBKS | Rayudu's blitz not enough as PBKS win 'Battle of Kings'

Ambati Rayudu's whirlwind onslaught wasn't enough as the Chennai Super Kings ended up 11 runs short of the target against Punjab Kings on Monday (April 25) night to succumb to their sixth defeat of the season. 

Needing 188 to win, the Super Kings needed to maximize the powerplay, but true to their nature, they were yet again very slow to get off the blocks.

Ruturaj Gaikwad seemed to have given his side a good start when he stroked Kagiso Rabada for two fours in the 1st over, but it proved to be a false dawn as the next five overs saw CSK lose two wickets for 22 runs.

Robin Uthappa holed out at mid-wicket for a 7-ball 1 in a desperate attempt to pull Sandeep Sharma in the 2nd over. 

The ploy of sending Mitchell Santner to perform the role of a pinch hitter didn't pay off either, as Arshdeep Singh pegged his leg-stump back on a 15-ball 9.

Shivam Dube didn't last long either as he went for a loose drive against Rishi Dhawan in the 7th over, only to inside-edge it back onto his stumps.

With the score reading 40/3 after 7 overs, CSK desperately needed a move-on, and they did that courtesy of Ambati Rayudu, who hammered 29 off his first 15 deliveries to take the score to 81/3 after 11.

However, Mayank's ploy to bring back Rabada in the attack proved to be a masterstroke as Gaikwad, after having hit the Proteas speedster (30 off 27 deliveries) for a four, perished at deep mid-off while trying to do an encore.

But Rayudu, en route to a 28-ball 50, continued to go for his shots. The right-hander played some delightful strokes against both pace and spin in the next few overs to take the equation down to 63 off the last 27.

Rayudu laid into Sandeep in the 16th over as he hammered him for three consecutive sixes in three different directions - long-on, deep square-leg and backward point - and followed it up with a four towards deep midwicket to reduce the task to just 47 off 24.

Arshdeep bowled a brilliant 17th over where he conceded just 6 runs before Rabada backed it up by knocking over the dangerous Rayudu for a 39-ball 78.

With 35 needed in the last 12 balls, Arshdeep once again bowled really well in the 19th over as he gave away just 8 runs despite conceding a boundary.

Dhoni smashed a six towards deep backward square-leg off Rishi Dhawan on the first ball but eventually perished as he miscues an attempted slog on the leg-side to give a simple catch to Bairstow in the deep.

It proved to be the final nail in the coffin of CSK even as Jadeja wielded his willow at the end.  

Dhawan's unbeaten 88 (59) guided PBKS to 187/4

Earlier, veteran opener Shikhar Dhawan spearheaded Punjab Kings' batting effort courtesy of an unbeaten 59-ball 88.

The stylish southpaw, who also became just the second batter to cross 6000 IPL runs during the course of his innings, got decent support from Bhanuka Rajapaksa (42 off 32 deliveries) and Liam Livingstone, who smoked rapid 7-ball 19 after an unusually sedate start.

Skipper Mayank Agarwal once again had a poor outing as he managed a painstaking 21-ball 18, leading to PBKS scraping their way to a mere 37/1 at the end of the powerplay.

Dhawan also was quite slow to get off the blocks, scoring just 16 off 14 deliveries in the powerplay, but things changed when he got together with Rajapaksa during the middle phase.

The southpaw was at his typical best, dissecting gaps like a surgeon. Rajapaksa, too, played some delightful strokes, but it's fair to say that he rode his luck to the hilt as he was dropped twice - by Gaikwad and Santner on 1 & 26.

Dhawan and Rajapaksa added 80 runs in the next 8 overs after the powerplay to take the score to 117/1 at the end of 14. 

The 36-year old completed yet another half-century (46th) with a boundary off Dwaine Pretorius off his 37th delivery. While he and Rajapaksa gave an ideal launchpad to PBKS power-hitters, they, especially Shikhar, couldn't quite accelerate like they would have liked.

The Delhi batter managed just 32 runs off the 17 deliveries he faced between overs 15-20, and had it not been for a quickfire cameo from Livingstone, PBKS couldn't have managed to score the runs that they eventually got at the death.

For CSK, Dwayne Bravo once again proved to be the pick of the bowlers. He conceded 42 runs in 4, but the veteran all-rounder used his variations to brilliant effect, causing plenty of trouble, especially Dhawan.

Punjab scored 64 runs in the last five and eventually finished at 187.

Brief Score:

Punjab Kings - 187/6 (20)

Shikhar Dhawan 88* (59), Bhaunka Rajapaksa 42 (32); 

Dwayne Bravo 2/42 (4), Mahesh Theekshana 1/32 (4)

Chennai Super Kings - 176/6 (20)

Ambati Rayudu 78 (39), Ruturaj Gaikwad 30 (27);

Kagiso Rabada 2/23 (4), Rishi Dhawan 2/39 (4)

Punjab Kings win by 11 runs.