Indian Premier League powerhouse Chennai Super Kings have become the first team to be eliminated from the playoff race this season, paying the price for an outdated style of batting in the 10-team competition.

The five-time champions succumbed to their eighth loss in 10 matches this season after Punjab Kings beat them by four wickets on Wednesday to keep them at the bottom of the points table.

At 172-4 in the 18th over, Chennai looked set for a 200-plus score but they were eventually all out for 190 with four balls left in their innings after Punjab spinner Yuzvendra Chahal claimed four wickets in five balls, including a hat-trick.

“It was the first time when we had put enough runs on the board, but was it a par score? I feel (we were) slightly short,” Chennai captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said afterwards.

“Not to forget when it’s a high-scoring game, we didn’t play the last four deliveries and in the second last over, we got four batsmen out.”

“In close games, seven (dot) deliveries mean a lot,” he said.

Chennai have been criticised for their sluggish batting as they often failed to capitalise on the powerplay and death overs.

Their run rate of 8.23 is the lowest among all teams and in the list of 27 team totals of 200 or more this season, Chennai feature only once.

They had to change their misfiring top order, including the New Zealand duo of Rachin Ravindra and Devon Conway, while Dhoni was put in charge after a shoulder injury cut short skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad’s season.

Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja and Rahul Tripathi also failed to fire in the middle order, which often denied the team any platform for a late acceleration.

Batting at number three, Sam Curran came good against Punjab though, hitting 88 off 47 balls after three single digit scores in the tournament.

Dhoni was pleased with the attitude of the England all-rounder.

“Whenever he turns up, he wants to contribute, whether it’s with the bat or with the ball,” Dhoni said.

Source: Reuters

-Agencies