Records tumble at Wankhede as Shikhar Dhawan powers Punjab to an emphatic win

Shikhar Dhawan joins an elite list 

One of the most consistent players in the history of the Indian Premier League, Shikhar Dhawan had a fairy-tale run in the league match against Chennai Super Kings at the Wankhede Stadium.

A couple of minutes after the toss, the 36-year-old joined an elite list of players to feature in 200 matches in the extravaganza, making him only the eighth player to achieve this feat. 

MS Dhoni, the former skipper of Chennai, is on top of this list with 228 matches, followed by Rohit Sharma with 221 games. 

Records tumble at Wankhede as Dhawan unlocks a couple of milestones

After being asked to bat first by Ravindra Jadeja, the southpaw breached yet another special milestone as he became only the second player behind Virat Kohli to score 6000 runs in the tournament. 

Despite losing the wicket of skipper Mayank Agarwal early, Dhawan consolidated the innings and forged a crucial 110-run stand for the second wicket with Bhanuka Rajapaksa. 

En route to this valuable partnership, he scored a well-compiled half-century to yet again join Kohli as the joint-most scores over the 50-run mark against the Super Kings. While Kohli has nine fifty-plus scores, Dhawan has eight half-centuries and one scintillating hundred against the Yellow Army. 

Displaying an array of strokes all around the ground, the left-hander smashed 88 off 59 deliveries studded with nine boundaries and two massive hits over the fence to become the first player to amass 1000 runs against Chennai in the shortest format of the game. 

While his match-defining innings powered Punjab to a formidable total of 187 for the loss of four wickets, Dhawan also became the third Indian player to score over 9000 runs in T20s. Kohli, along with the skipper of the Indian side, Rohit Sharma, are the top two players with 10392 and 10048 runs, respectively. 

Sandeep Sharma's early jolts 

In pursuit of 188 runs, the opening combination of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Robin Uthappa walked into the middle. Over the years, Sandeep Sharma has the reputation of wreaking through the opposition batting line-ups in the powerplay, and this game was no different. 

Making a comeback in the playing XI for this high-voltage clash, Sandeep scalped the prized wicket of Robin Uthappa on the penultimate ball of the second over. 

With the wicket of an in-form batter, Sandeep equalled the record for joint-most wickets along with Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The duo have picked up 54 wickets in the first six overs of the innings, followed by Zaheer Khan with 52 scalps. 

Dwaine Pretorius endures a day to forget 

In this edition of the competition, the Super Kings have been plagued by inconsistency in their bowling unit. While they have chopped and changed their playing XI frequently, the defending champions have showcased immense faith in Dwaine Pretorius and his death-bowling abilities. 

However, the South African pacer endured a dismal outing against the Punjab Kings and conceded 50 runs without scalping a wicket in his four-over spell, making it the worst spell for him in T20 cricket. 

The last time he was smashed all around the park was in 2015, when he conceded 45 runs for the Lions against the Knights in a domestic T20 competition. 

Ambati Rayudu's valiant innings 

After losing three early wickets, Ambati Rayudu walked in at number six in the eighth over of the innings. The right-handed batter suffered an injury to his hand while fielding and was off the field for a significant part of the first innings.

Despite having a lukewarm season with the bat, the 36-year-old took the attack to the opposition bowling unit and scored some quickfire runs. Rayudu was severe on Sandeep in the 16th over of the innings and smashed him for 23 runs, including three consecutive sixes to race to a half-century off 28 deliveries. 

While his valiant knock of 78 runs off 39 balls at a strike rate of 200 failed to guide the Super Kings over the line, the rate at which he scored the runs to give his side a glimmer of hope is the second-highest for him in an IPL inning with a minimum of 30 deliveries. 

In the 2018 season, his innings of 79 off 37 balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad at a strike rate of 213.51 is the best for him.