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Jadeja stars with bat and ball as Chennai Super Kings climb to third

Published

2 years ago

2024/05/6

Priyan

MS Dhoni celebrates with Ravindra Jadeja (Cricinfo)

Punjab Kings showcased their very best and worst selves all in the course of about 45 minutes and in the end the bad outweighed the good as they lost to Chennai Super Kings by 28 runs.

Sam Curran’s men had dominated proceedings right from the toss. A target of 168 should’ve been well within their reach, especially when they strung together a period of play where they hit six boundaries in 18 balls between the fifth and the seventh overs.

The equation at that point was 112 off 78 with eight wickets in hand. This was not the time to collapse but collapse they did, losing both their set batters, their captain and their finisher. They tumbled from 62 for 2 to 78 for 7. And CSK rose from fifth place to third place.

It all began with CSK ticking every box they shouldn’t tick in a batting innings in T20 cricket. They lost a wicket in the powerplay. Ajinkya Rahane’s poor IPL continued with his fifth score of 15 or less. Then just as they were recovering – backing up overs that went for 19 and 9 runs – they lost three wickets in 11 balls, including their top-scorer Ruturaj Gaikwad (32 off 21) and their spin-hitter Shivam Dube (0 off 1). Then just as they were recovering from that – backing up overs that went for 11 and 9 runs – they lost another wicket.Ravindra Jadeja , batting at No. 6, was in during the ninth over and made sure to stay there almost through to finish. His 43 off 26 balls was crucial to the total CSK ended up with.

Rahul Chahar was once again at the forefront of the PBKS bowling performance, even though he was facing a line-up full of left-handers. He coped by trusting his googly and by staying out of their hitting arcs. These are defensive skills and they are proving more and more valuable. Fifteen of the legspinner’s 24 deliveries arrived outside the batter’s off stump, or even wider, and fetched him all three of his wickets.

181 runs. That’s how many Harshal Patel gave up in his first four games of this season. 181 runs. That’s also how many Harshal has given up over his last seven games this season. He’s also picked up 13 wickets along the way. He’s become a bowler transformed – or so it seems. Really though, a death overs specialist runs the risk of splits like these. It’s the difference between executing what you want perfectly and missing your mark by a few inches. Harshal secured two of his three wickets with slow, sharply dipping yorkers. One of them was MS Dhoni for a first-ball duck. He spoke about how he doesn’t rely on technique as much as feel, which is why he wasn’t at his best at the start of the season; he was rusty. But with overs under his belt, he has gotten better and better.

This pitch, on first sight, seemed to be pretty good for batting. But eventually it became clear that it was playing some tricks. Harshal mentioned that since it was a day game and the square was so dry he was getting reverse swing from as early when he came on to bowl, in the 10th over. Later, in the evening, the new ball started to deck around. It offered extra bounce, which interfered with the shots that Gaikwad and Dube tried to play, but also kept low, without which Daryl Mitchell might not have been lbw. When the ball got old, it held in the pitch and took turn. Both Chahar and Jadeja produced double-wicket overs.

CSK have lost Deepak Chahar and Matheesha Pathirana to injury but have been able to stay in the race for the IPL playoffs because Thushar Deshpande has improved beyond sight. He was the one selecting the ball that they were going to use at the start of the game. That is typically the responsibility of a very senior player. This guy was once their net bowler. His rise has been phenomenal. Deshpande took out PBKS’ two big guns in the top-order – Jonny Bairstow and Rilee Rossouw – in the same over. His first six balls of the match increased CSK’s chances of victory by 18.66%.

The thing with defending small totals is everybody has to be perfect. CSK had one bowler who was nailing his lengths. Constantly looking to hit the deck, which is where all the vagaries were coming from, whether it was extra bounce, or the ball holding up, or keeping low. Deshpande’s upright seam position also helped him get sideways movement. The Rossow ball nipped in against the angle and left his stumps splayed before he could even react. Beaten for both pace and movement.

But overs five, six and seven cost CSK as Shashank Singh and Prabhsimran Singh went on the offensive. They were pulling off jaw-dropping shots. A ramp over third man for six when there was no room and the ball was climbing. An inside-out drive over cover for four when the ball was darted in on or even outside leg stump.

Mitchell Santner has a history of putting in high-impact performances. In his second game for CSK, he hit the last ball for six to win the game. But being a left-arm spinner in a team that already has Jadeja, he tends to ride the bench. This was his 16th game for CSK in five years. He only came in because Mustafizur Rahman had to leave early and Pathirana and Chahar were injured. Still, he is a player who knows his strengths and he backed them, bowling nice and tight on the stumps and asking the batters to hit him to the longer boundary, down the ground. That’s how he got Shashank.

In the next, the ninth over, Jadeja took out Prabhsimran. In the next over, Simarjeet Singh got rid of Jitesh Sharma and so on and so on. Five wickets. Sixteen runs. Twenty-eight balls. PBKS kept trying to hit themselves out of trouble. They were unable to soak the pressure; unable to bat at a different gear.

This is the kind of situation that CSK thrive in. So even when there came a point where Ashutosh Sharma was dropped very poorly by Moeen Ali, they had Jadeja up their sleeve and he produced a wicket off the very next ball, Sam Curran falling to another big shot, and then in the same over, Ashutosh too succumbing to a wild swing. That was 78 for 7 and that was the game.

Brief scores:
Chennai Super Kings 167/9 in 20 overs (Ravindra Jadeja 43; Rahul Chahar 3-23, Harshal Patel 3-24) beat Punjab Kings 139/9 in 20 overs (Prabhsimran Singh 30, Shashank Singh 27; Ravindra Jadeja 3-20, Tushar Deshpande 2-35) by 28 runs

(Cricinfo)

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Latest News

Deadly fire breaks out at Canada military base

Published

12 mins ago

2026/10/18

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Defence Minister David McGuinty says there are casualties but did not go into details (BBC)

A large fire near a Canadian military base in Alberta has killed and injured some people, the defence minister said, without confirming the number of casualties.

The Canadian Armed Forces were working with local authorities to manage the fire and were looking into what caused it, David McGuinty said, describing the situation as “very, very active and delicate”.

Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney said on X that a “serious incident creating a major fire” had occurred, adding his “thoughts are with all the brave women and men affected”.

Canadian Forces Base Wainwright, where the fire broke out, is one of the country’s busiest military training bases.

The blaze “spread rapidly due to high winds” and had torn through the fences of the base, the Municipal District of Wainwright said.

McGuinty told reporters he “cannot recall an incident like this in recent memory”.

It is unclear when the fire broke out, but the district first posted about the incident at about 17:30 local time.

Local authorities have urged residents to avoid the area and give all emergency vehicles right of way.

(BBC)

Latest News

Achintha smashes 1,500 metres record at All Island Schools Games

Published

11 hours ago

2026/10/17

Priyan

Lahiru Achintha broke the Under 18 boys' 1,500 metres record.

‎by Reemus Fernando

‎

‎Promising middle distance runner Lahiru Achintha continued his record breaking sphere with a remarkable sub four minutes feat in the 1,500 metres at the All Island Schools Games Athletics Championship at Diyagama today (17).

‎The Asian Youth Games gold medallist who has run sub four minutes previously returned a time of 3:55.97 seconds to become the first athlete in his age category at these championships to run the distance under four minutes.

‎Achintha who has a personal best of 3:53.05 from last year was representing Prince College Ratnapura today.

‎In another impressive 1,500 m feat Tharushi Abhisheka of Lyceum International School, Wattala established a new meet record in the Under-20 Girls’ 1,500m as she returned a time of 4:34.59 seconds to win.

‎By the end of the second day of the meet seven new meet records had been established.

‎

‎D. V. C. de Soysa (of Galewela Central College) Under-16 Boys’ Discus Throw – 55.83m.

‎D. G. Lahiru Achintha (of Ratnapura Kumara Vidyalaya) Under-18 Boys’ 1,500m – 3:55.97 secs.

‎W. P. Nethula Induwara (Rahula College, Matara) Under-14 Boys’ 100m – 11.70 seconds

‎K. V. R. Gayesha (Ira Handa Kotuwa Wewa Maha Vidyalaya, Polonnaruwa) Under-16 Girls’ High Jump – 1.70m

‎H. M. D. S. Herath (Maris Stella College, Thimbirigaskatuwa) Under-20 Boys’ Long Jump – 7.65m

‎P. M. Amaya Semindi (Vijitha Central College, Dikwella) Under-14 Girls’ High Jump – 1.58m

‎

Foreign News

Rare pink diamond goes on display in France 100 years after amateur heist

Published

12 hours ago

2026/10/17

Priyan

The nine-carat, pear-shaped gemstone was one of few royal jewels to survive the French Revolution (BBC)

A rare pink diamond is going on display in France for the first time since it was stolen almost 100 years ago to the day – the last time it was shown to the public.

The nine-carat, pear-shaped gemstone known as the “Grand Condé” was pilfered in an overnight raid on the Château de Chantilly in October 1926 and concealed in a hollowed-out apple.

The diamond – one of few royal jewels to survive the French Revolution – was recovered a few weeks later when a hungry maid at the hotel in which the thieves were staying took a bite of the apple.

It will once again be on display in the Condé Museum at the Château de Chantilly until 3 January.

The museum’s director Mathieu Deldicque said that while the apple story may sounds far-fetched, it was widely covered by newspapers at the time.

Deldicque has faced questions about whether the exhibition may be tempting fate, especially given the string of heists on European cultural institutions in the past 12 months, including the daring daylight robbery of jewellery from the Louvre museum in Paris.

While he declined to reveal to CNN how much the diamond was insured for, he noted that extensive academic study into the properties of the diamond had taken place to make it uniquely identifiable.

The results of this analysis, as well as previously unseen archive material about the gem’s history and theft, form part of the exhibition, according to the museum.

Naturally occurring pink diamonds are exceptionally rare and often sell for tens of millions of dollars. The highest price ever fetched for one at auction was $71.2m (£53.6m) in 2017, according to Sotheby’s.

The exact origins of the Grand Condé remain a mystery.

It was first mentioned in 1740 in an inventory of Louis Henri de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, drawn up following his death, the Château de Chantilly said.

It then became part of the collection of Queen Marie-Amélie of Bourbon-Sicily, the wife of French King Louis Philippe I, and then her son, Prince Henri of Orléans, the Duke of Aumale.

He bequeathed it to the Institut de France, which now owns the Château de Chantilly, 50km (31 miles) north of Paris, along with thousands of artworks and manuscripts which became the Musée Condé collection.

(BBC)