Livingstone's all-round heroics give PBKS fitting win

The Punjab Kings (PBKS) defeated the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the tenth game of the 2022 Indian Premier League (IPL). The match was played in the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. Liam Livingstone was adjudged to be the Man of the Match.

Livingstone tees off

PBKS had started off on the backfoot early in the innings after losing two wickets in two overs. However, Liam Livingstone produced one of the finest counterattacking innings of the IPL.

It seemed like he had his eyes set on Mukesh Choudhary, getting 10 runs off the 25-year-old in the 3rd over. The worst was yet to come for Choudhary, though, as Livingstone smashed him with absolute disdain in the 5th over. That over was the most expensive of the match, with 26 runs coming off it.

At the same time, the presence of the calm Shikhar Dhawan at the other end gave Livingstone the licence to go after any bowler he pleased.

The Englishman did what was asked of him, and raced to a 27-ball half century. He eventually fell to Ravindra Jadeja, but the damage had been done; PBKS were now scoring at well over 10 runs per over.

Pretorius and Jordan pull things back

At the end of the 14th over, PBKS were steaming along at 142/4. Debutant Jitesh Sharma and hard hitting batter Shahrukh Khan were at the crease, the former having played an impressive flurry of shots. With Odean Smith yet to bat, the Kings would have fancied themselves to reach 200, but CSK’s all-rounders had other ideas.

Dwaine Pretorius had a good debut against the Lucknow Super Giants, but was unlucky to be part of the losing side. Last evening, too, he showed his capabilities with the ball, breaking the Sharma-Khan stand in his 2nd over.

From the other end, Chris Jordan, making his CSK debut, made sure to keep the line and length tight to Khan, and eventually tricked him as he holed out while playing a big shot. In a similar fashion, he also got rid of Smith and suddenly PBKS were losing the plot.

Pretorius returned to get the wicket of Rahul Chahar, before Dwayne Bravo bowled a tidy last over to restrict PBKS to 180.

CSK unable to handle pace

Chasing 180 for any batting side is never easy. Yet the momentum was on the Super Kings’ side after the bowlers had done a stellar job towards the backend of the first innings. However, the PBKS bowlers tore apart the batting lineup to come roaring back.

Kagiso Rabada started the proceedings by getting Ruturaj Gaikwad to edge one to Dhawan at slip. Vaibhav Arora, on IPL debut, dismissed Robin Uthappa shortly after as well. Arora seemed to find swing even in the second half of the match, and constantly asked questions of the batters, and soon got rid of Moeen Ali as well.

Arshdeep Singh then produced one of the finest balls of the night, getting one to nip back into Jadeja as the CSK skipper played on. The PBKS bowlers had done more than they were asked of and CSK were reeling at 27/4 at the end of the powerplay.

As if that wasn’t enough, Smith, who was introduced into the attack in the 8th over, saw the back of Ambati Rayudu, and a victory seemed far from likely for the men in yellow.

Dube fifty in vain

Shivam Dube had fallen one short of a half century in the previous game, and this time came out to bat when the score was at 23/4 in the 6th over in a chase of 181. Luck really did not favour him.

Yet if there was any little positive CSK could gather from their batting last night, it would have been Dube. The young man bided his time, before playing his shots and getting his maiden IPL half century.

However, it was far too tall an ask for Dube, or even Mahendra Singh Dhoni for that matter, to save CSK. Dube did the best he could, with some support from the CSK wicketkeeper, but CSK eventually folded for 126, and succumbed to their third consecutive defeat in this year’s tournament.