KL Rahul\u2019s scintillating 36-ball-71 paved the way for a consolation six-wicket victory for Kings XI Punjab here on Sunday but not before CSK ensured a top-two finish with chance to play the first IPL Qualifier at their happy hunting home ground Chepauk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However CSK will be \nhappy that with a net run-rate of +0.131 which is far better than Delhi \nCapitals, the defending champions will remain in the top two with two \nclear shots at summit clash qualification even if MI beat KKR in the \nevening game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Such was Rahul\u2019s domination that Universe Boss \nGayle\u2019s run-a-ball knock paled in comparison as the duo added 108 runs \nin only 10.3 overs to seal the match.While senior off-spinner Harbhajan \nSingh got three wickets, he was hit for 57 runs in four overs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier,\n Faf du Plessis missed out on a well-deserved hundred by four runs as \nKings XI Punjab bowled well at the death to restrict Chennai Super Kings\n to 170 for 5.Courtesy Du Plessis\u2019 96 off 55 balls and his 120-run stand\n with Suresh Raina set a platform for the defending champions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In\n that second Harbhajan over which was fourth of the innings, Rahul hit \nthe veteran for three boundaries and two sixes, completing his \nhalf-century off 19 balls.He scored at fast clip albeit coming only \nafter skipper Ravichandran Ashwin\u2019s public admission that KXIP\u2019s \nPowerplay batting left a lot to be desired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Harbhajan was far \nbetter in his final two overs as he took three wickets for 16 runs \nincluding Rahul, Gayle and Mayank Agarwal. However Pooran played a cameo\n to ensure happy ending for the home team.However, Sam Curran (3\/35) and\n Mohammed Shami bowled well in the final few overs as CSK seemed at \nleast 10 runs short of par score.Du Plessis\u2019 knock had 10 fours and four\n sixes and was dismissed by brilliant Curran yorker in the 19th over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Du\n Plessis destroyed the Kings XI bowling attack, particularly punishing \nmedium pacer Andrew Tye and spinner Murugan Ashwin, hitting two \nboundaries and a six in one of their over.\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KL Rahul\u2019s scintillating 36-ball-71 paved the way for a consolation six-wicket victory for Kings XI Punjab here on Sunday but not before CSK ensured a top-two finish with chance to play the first IPL Qualifier at their happy hunting home ground Chepauk. However CSK will be happy that with a net run-rate of +0.131 which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":60695,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60694"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60694\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60696,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60694\/revisions\/60696"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}