Liam Livingstone's belligerence and a devastating new ball spell by Punjab Kings bowlers handed defending champions Chennai Super Kings their third straight defeat of IPL 2022 in Mumbai on Sunday.
Punjab have banked heavily on power hitters this season and that strategy paid off handsomely at the Brabourne Stadium as Livingstone smashed 60 from just 32 balls with five fours and as many sixes to help his team post 180-8.
Chennai bowlers hit back at the death to restrict their opponents to under 200, with Dwaine Pretorius (2-30) and Chris Jordan (2-23) bowling particularly well.
But the Punjab bowlers ended the contest in the powerplay of the chase. With hardly any dew to restrict the bowlers, Punjab seamers ran through the top order. Young seamer Vaibhav Arora (2-21) swung the ball around as Chennai were reduced to 23-4 in the sixth over, and the match as good as over.
All-rounder Shivam Dube (57 off 30) tried to take the contest deep into the innings but only managed to reduce the margin of defeat. Dube continued his good form with the bat, smashing a 26-ball fifty but the task proved beyond him.
It was Livingstone who extinguished Chennai’s hopes, this time with the ball, as he dismissed Dube in his second over, caught at short third man with his leg spin. The England star then had the dangerous Dwayne Bravo caught and bowled next ball to put the game beyond the Super Kings.
From there on, the innings wrapped up quickly. Leg-spinner Rahul Chahar finished with 3-25, to go with Livingstone's fine spell of 2-25.
Chennai could only manage 126 in 18 overs as they succumbed to a 54-run defeat, with serious questions about their bowling line-up and team balance.
Earlier, Livingstone took seamer Mukesh Choudhary apart, cracking three fours and two sixes in the fifth over of the match to kickstart the innings. Shikhar Dhawan (33 off 24 balls) and Jitesh Sharma (26 off 17) kept things lively but the rest of Punjab batsmen failed to kick on towards the end.
Chennai are lodged at the bottom of the table with three defeats from three games, while Punjab moved into the top four with a commanding win that also boosted their net run rate.
After the defeat, Chennai captain Ravindra Jadeja said there is no need to panic yet. He also put his weight behind last season's star batsman Ruturaj Gaikwad, who has failed in all three outing so far with scores of 0, 1 and 1.
"We lost too many wickets in the powerplay and didn't find momentum from ball one. We need to find a way to come back stronger," Jadeja said.
"We need to give him [Gaikwad] confidence; we all know he is a very good player. I'm sure he will come good. Dube has been batting well and I think keeping him in a good frame of mind is the key. We will try our best to work hard and come back stronger."
