NEWS
Follow UsDefending 168, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) needed quick wickets with the new ball to peg back the rampant Punjab Kings (PBKS). Who better to call at that moment than Tushar Deshpande, who made an ultimate difference in the clash with two wickets in the same over?
In his first over, Deshpande removed in-form Jonny Bairstow and troublemaker Rilee Roussow. While the pacer did not pick any additional wicket in the clash, his twin-wicket over was enough to seal the deal for the five-time IPL winners. CSK’s bowling coach Eric Simons was in all praise for the Mumbai pacer, admitting that his over put PBKS under a lot of pressure.
“You never know what the wicket is like unless both the teams play. Did we get enough runs, one really doesn’t know, but the key moment was the two wickets from Tushar Deshpande, that’s when we put them under a lot of pressure. It wasn’t just the two wickets, it was two vital wickets of batters who could have put us under pressure,” Simons applauded Deshpande in the post-match press conference.
Was it that bad a wicket, as the scoreboard suggested?
“We could have ended up at 140, so get to 160 to put a bit of pressure on the scoreboard made the difference. We thought it was a good wicket but it was perhaps slower than we anticipated. We found the balls into the wicket was difficult to score off, cross-bat shots were tough to score. It was a good wicket though, with rewards for good batting and bowling,” he added.
Both captains wanted to chase, but Simons insisted that the toss really didn’t make a lot of difference in the end, given the wickets were consistent.
“It didn’t matter if we won the toss or lost the toss, the wickets were consistent throughout the clash in Dharamsala, I suppose that makes for good cricket.”
CSK found themselves in a muddle at 69/3 after losing Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shivam Dube in the same over. Dube, in particular, was coming off a golden duck against PBKS, and the all-rounder followed it up with another golden duck in Dharamsala.
"I don't think that's a problem when you have a blip once or twice. That [middle-order] has been our strength. (Shivam) Dube has been incredible but he got out early twice now and that happens. The guys fought hard on the other side and got us to a decent total that we could defend.
However, for the Super Kings, it was a game where they found another new emerging character in their chapter - Simarjeet Singh. Making his first appearance in over two years, the Delhi-pacer made a strong comeback, picking up two wickets and showing everyone ‘pace is pace yaar’.
“Working your way through the eleven and twelve has been important. For someone like Simarjeet to come and do that tonight, it was really important. He was obviously, it was his first game and nerves were there, it was magical for him to get those wickets. To make sure the whole squad is ready, that’s very important,” he concluded.
CSK next play Gujarat Titans on May 10 (Friday) in Ahmedabad as the race to playoffs intensifies.
