CSK vs KXIP | Player Ratings - R Ashwin’s three-wicket haul in vain as Chennai Super Kings thrash Kings XI Punjab by 22 runs
Ravichandran Ashwin was absolutely brilliant with the ball, picking Chennai Super Kings' three top-order wickets, but slow batting display resulted in the hosts getting better of Kings XI Punjab. KL Rahul and Sarfaraz Khan’s half-centuries were the only other consolations for Punjab in the game.
KL Rahul (5/10): Playing slow from the word-go, Rahul kept Punjab in the run-chase, just like he did against Mumbai Indians, but the rising run-rate pressure played to his head and an attempt to bring that down, Rahul brought an end to Punjab’s hopes. While it may seem very aggressive if I give him anything less than 6, but then just sit and imagine, did it help the team in any way.
Chris Gayle (2/10): In a 161-run chase, a team always wants their biggest hitter to score runs for them and Punjab wanted Gayle to the same tonight. However, in the battle of 90s veterans, Harbhajan Singh outplayed the Carribean with a low outside the off-stump delivery against which Gayle swung ungainly to end up giving a simple offering to MS Dhoni behind the stumps. Wasn’t impressive at all.
Mayank Agarwal (1/10): Never try to break the shackles when you are under pressure because smartly transferring it makes a good cricketer great. Agarwal definitely needs some time to grasp the lesson, for the fact that his unnecessary attempt against an experienced campaigner like Harbhajan Singh made their run-chase look very difficult.
Sarfaraz Khan (6/10): Sarfraz Khan is a precious talent and as he showed today, he can be a cricketer with immense value. But his innings construction was just a carbon copy of KL Rahul’s, which ensured that they were in the run-chase, but when the time arrived to do something about the run-rate, he wasn't able to make the transition.
David Miller (3/10): Punjab needed 44 runs off 15 balls when Miller came to the crease, and although he was very much capable of doing that, Deepak Chahar was just too good with his length on the last delivery of the 19th over. In an ideal world though, he could’ve been the game changer.
Mandeep Singh (6/10): The game was almost done and dusted when Mandeep came out to bat, and there was nothing he could do to help them to a win. Got to play only one delivery and ended up scoring a solitary single.
Sam Curran (5/10): The English pacer started on an impressive fashion, by keeping the ball out of the batsmen’s reach, but as soon as he tried to pick wickets, his line and length
Ravichandran Ashwin (8/10): Has to be one of the finest bowling displays in the IPL by the Punjab skipper. On his Chennai return, Ashwin not only pulled off no less than seven different
Andrew Tye (4/10): Chennai is one of the most spinner-friendly wickets in India and after Dwane Bravo was out of the squad, there was no doubt that CSK would take a risk. However, for reasons only known to them, Punjab brought Andrew Tye back to the squad in place of Mujeeb ur Rahman, and no points for guessing, it turned out to be a terrible decision. The Aussie pacer conceded 38 runs in four overs.
Murugan Ashwin (7/10): This is what accuracy gives you. Chennai slowed down drastically after Shane Watson’s dismissal, and that was down to Murugan Ashwin’s tactics of bowling stump-to-stump like an off-spinner. Even though the amount of turn he extracted was minimal, run-scoring was very hard against him and gave their pacers a chance to have a crack at the death over.
Mohammed Shami(3/10): Shami’s basic task is to take wickets in the team and when he fails to do that, he ensures that the run-flow is partly restricted. Today was not his day for sure as he was taken down by CSK batsmen easily, and his economy rate soared above 10 to give his figure a torrid look.
