Mohali (Punjab): Kings XI Punjab defeated Chennai Super Kings by six wickets in their Indian Premier League (IPL) clash here on Sunday.
Chasing a target of 171 runs, Punjab had a very scintillating start as the openers, KL Rahul and Chris Gayle, formed a 108 runs partnership.
Rahul started playing big shots at the beginning, which helped him score his half-century in just 19 balls.
Both gave a solid start to Punjab before Rahul (71) and Gayle (28) both got out on two consecutive balls bowled by Harbhajan Singh.
Nicolas Pooran and Mayank Aggarwal then came out to bat. However, their partnership did not last long as Aggarwal gave away his wicket on seven runs.
Mandeep Singh then joined Pooran and both added another 46 runs to the scoreboard before Ravindra Jadeja sent Pooran (36) back to the pavilion.
Sam Curran then came out to bat and both Curran and Mandeep Singh took their side over the line and registered a 6-wicket victory.
Earlier, CSK were sent to bat first as Punjab opted to bowl first after winning the toss. CSK had a decent start as Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis added 30 runs to the scoreboard before Sam Curran got hold of Watson (7).
Suresh Raina then came out to bat and accompanied Du Plessis. Both the on-field batter played some brilliant shots and struck regular boundaries, which kept the scoreboard running.
Both stitched a 120-run partnership which saw half-century of both the players. However, Raina (53) and Du Plessis (96), both became victims of Curran, who sent both the set batsmen, back to the pavilion.
Then skipper MS Dhoni and Ambati Rayudu came out to bat. However, in the last over of the inning, Mohammed Shami took the wicket of Rayudu which brought Kedar Jhadav to the field but Shami sent Jhadav too back to the pavilion. Shami conceded only five runs in the final over which helped Punjab restrict CSK to 170 runs.
Brief scores: Kings XI Punjab (KL Rahul 71, Nicolas Pooran 36, Harbhajan Singh 3-57) defeated Chennai Super Kings (Faf du Plessis 96, Suresh Raina 53, Sam Curran 3-35) by six wickets.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]