Sam Curran hits 88 but Chahal's hat-trick keeps Chennai Super Kings to 190 against Punjab Kings
Chennai, Apr 30 (PTI): Sam Curran braved testing conditions to produce an imperious 88 but a late four-wicket burst from Yuzvendra Chahal, including a hat-trick, kept Chennai Super Kings to 190 all out against Punjab Kings in their Indian Premier League match here on Wednesday.
Curran’s first fifty of the season (88 off 47 balls, 9x4 4x6) as he anchored the recovery process of his side from a precarious 48 for three in the power play.
With their backs against the wall, Curran teamed up with Dewald Brevis (32) to carefully plot CSK’s way back into the contest with a robust 78-run fourth-wicket stand and turned on the heat on PBKS bowling.
Until the 16th over, CSK coasted well at nearly nine runs an over when the England all-rounder picked Suryansh Shedge to attack.
The first two balls were struck for sixes over long-off and deep square leg, and on the third legitimate delivery it took a splendid diving effort from Shreyas Iyer to save a certain third six in the over.
But Curran wasn’t done yet as he pierced gaps on the next two deliveries to get as many boundaries, eventually collecting 26 off the PBKS novice.
Curran’s onslaught forced PBKS’ strike bowler Arshdeep to resort to wide full tosses, which resulted in a tidy over for four runs but for which he had to bowl eight deliveries as two were wide deliveries.
Curran eventually fell in the 18th over, getting an edge while attempting to duck under a Marco Jansen bouncer, but not before producing a knock of spunk and substance from any batter in the famed yellow jersey this season.
Chahal, who was wicketless until the penultimate over, was hit for a six by MS Dhoni (11) but the bowler had him caught at long off on the second delivery.
On the fourth, Deepak Hooda (2) played one meekly towards backward point while on the fifth, impact substitute Anshul Kamboj (0) was cleaned up.
Noor Ahmad (0) tried to put one away but ended up miscuing his shot and Jansen came in from long-on to complete the hat-trick, which was the lef-spinner's second in the IPL.
It was once again a disappointing start to the innings for CSK in which their openers Shaik Rasheed (11) and Ayush Mhatre (7) fell without making a dent.
Rasheed hit a couple of attractive strokes before mistiming one and Shashank Singh collected an easy grab off Arshdeep in the third over.
Mhatre failed to clear mid-off where Shreyas took a nice grab after covering some distance on his left for Jansen’s first wicket in the game.
Ravindra Jadeja (17) showed aggressive intent right from ball one but he fell to Harpreet Brar trying to cut one too close to the body and was caught behind.
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Experience comes when you play bigger teams in bilateral series: Rashid Khan
Chennai (PTI): Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan called for more bilateral series against stronger cricketing nations after his team signed off from the T20 World Cup on a high, defeating Canada in their final group match here on Thursday.
Afghanistan played some exhilarating cricket, going down to South Africa in a gripping second Super Over after the scores were tied, a humdinger that provided one of the early thrills of the World Cup.
However, the spin-bowling stalwart said Afghanistan could make significant strides if they get regular opportunities to compete against stronger cricketing nations.
"Couple of areas to improve, with the batting, the middle order got a bit stuck against the big teams, and then with the bowling the death overs. That comes when you play the bigger teams in bilateral series," said Rashid after his team defeat Canada by 82 runs, with him returning excellent figures of 2 for 19.
The stalwart said the side had arrived well prepared for the tournament and produced some breathtaking cricket, but admitted the narrow defeat to South Africa proved costly and remained a painful setback.
"We were well-prepared (for the tournament), we played some unbelievable cricket. The game against South Africa, that really hurt everyone. We had to win one of those (first two) games and see how the tournament unfolded. We'll take some positive things from this World Cup and look forward," he said.
With head coach Jonathan Trott set to part ways with the team, Rashid described the departure as an "emotional" moment for the side.
"I think we had some wonderful times with him. Where we are now, he played a main role. It's emotional to see him leave us, but that's how life is. We wish him all the best and somewhere down the line we see him again."
Ibrahim Zadran, who was named Player of the Match for his unbeaten 95 off 56 balls, said it was satisfying to finally register a substantial score after two below-par outings.
"I enjoyed it, didn't play better cricket in first two innings, which I expect. Wanted to back my skills, really enjoyed it. Pressure was there, it's there all the time. I want to put myself in pressure situations and enjoy it," said Zadran.
"Wanted to play positive cricket, rotate strike and punish bad ball, create partnerships and this is what I have done."
