IPL 2019 | Sarfaraz Khan has incredible hitting ability, says Ravichandran Ashwin

Chennai Super Kings had posted 160 against Kings XI Punjab on a slow Chepauk pitch. The chase was not easy, but KL Rahul and Sarfaraz Khan kept the team’s hopes alive after Chris Gayle and Mayank Agarwal were dismissed cheaply. The Kings were reeling at seven for two in two overs before the duo of Rahul and Sarfaraz stitched in a 110-run partnership.

Both were struggling against the spinners but managed to hold in until the 18th over, before Rahul was dismissed for 55 off 47. The tally had come down to 44 runs off 15 balls, which was a huge task given the nature of the pitch and Punjab lost. Nevertheless, Sarfaraz held on before being caught at 67  and his skipper, Ashwin, has heaped praise on the 21-year-old stating that the player would be winning games for his team in upcoming matches. 

"Sarfaraz is someone who has got incredible abilities to play well. And look what has happened today can happen to anybody because it is not one of those wickets when you come to CSK and it is easier to finish the game. It is a wicket with a long boundary and it's not going to be easy to hit sixes. He has been in good form and batting really well. I am sure the person who is not able to cross the line today will cross it tomorrow," Ashwin said.

The MS Dhoni-led side once again fielded three full-time spinners, Harbhajan Singh, Imran Tahir and Ravindra Jadeja, who collectively gave away only 61 runs in 12 overs and tied the KXIP batsmen to the ground. Singh, who took the wickets of Gayle and Mayank in a single over, was adjudged the Man of the Match for the second time in this edition.

On the other hand, the Mike Hesson coached side only went in with two spinners, which included the skipper himself apart from Murugan Ashwin. Both the spinners limited the opponent’s scoring rate keeping the economy below 6, while Ashwin also scalped three wickets. The fast bowlers were taken apart for nearly ten runs an over, and consequently, the skipper was criticized for his decision of fielding only two spinners. However, he justified his decision by claiming that playing more spinners would upset his team’s combination.

"I would love to have four spinners and four fast bowlers. We can only play XI. We have a combination where we have a six-strong batting and five-strong bowling attack," the 31 year old sarcastically said.

Faf du Plessis was the pick of the batsmen for the three-time champions. He generated pace on the slow track by using his feet well, which took his team’s score to 54 in the powerplay. Although KXIP bowled well for major part of their innings thereafter, the powerplay gave CSK the advantage. The KXIP skipper also acknowledged this fact while praising his bowlers.

"I thought the bowlers bowled well. Probably, missed the mark a bit in the Powerplay, which is understandable. Whoever bowled and got a role to play, I thought we got them under par as well. We were in the chase,” he concluded.