It was a mixed start to their innings for the Chennai Super Kings, as they lost star opener Sanju Samson early, but recovered well to reach the end of the six-over powerplay on 57 for 1 in their Tata IPL clash against the Punjab Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk, Chennai on Friday evening.
It was Punjab captain Shreyas Iyer who won the toss and chose to bowl, with the visitors getting off to the better start thanks to the early wicket.
In the second over, Aussie bowler Xavier Bartlett got one to nip away from Super Kings opener Samson (7) as he tried to drive the ball, but ended up edging to keeper Prabhsimran Singh, leaving them on 14 for one.
But a solid three overs followed as captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, 14no off 10 (2x4), and Ayush Mhatre, 29no off 19 (4x4; 1x6) started to open up.
Marco Jansen’s third went for 10 runs, but included five wides down the leg side, Bartlett’s second saw three boundaries in a row from Mhatre as 15 came off it, and the first six of the match from Mahtre off Vijaykumar Vyshak in the fifth saw another 10 off it.
The final over of the powerplay from Arshdeep Singh went for eight runs, as the Super Kings passed 50, and neither side will be too disappointed with their start so far.
CHENNAI SUPER KINGS: Sanju Samson (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad (capt), Ayush Mhatre, Sarfaraz Khan, Shivam Dube, Kartik Sharma, Prashant Veer, Noor Ahmed, Matt Henry, Anshul Kamboj, Khaleel Ahmed
PUNJAB KINGS: Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer (capt), Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal