Punjab Kings captain Sam Curran showered praise on Rahul Chahar after their seven-wicket win against Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Wednesday. PBKS continued to be a thong in CSK’s flesh as they registered their fifth consecutive win against the defending champions.
Chahar, who was introduced into the attack after the Powerplay overs, plumbed Ravindra Jadeja in front of the wickets. The leg-spinner was then brought into the attack by Curran in the penultimate over against MS Dhoni and Moeen Ali. Chahar was able to dismiss Moeen Ali and conceded only three runs in the 19th over.
The leg-spinner returned with impressive figures of 2-16 in his quota of four overs and played a key role in restricting the opposition to 162-7.
Curran said in the post-match presentation, “Today we wanted to try something different by trying Rabada in the powerplay. We wanted to use our spinners later on, so took a punt on trying KG within the powerplay. Chahar came back and was the best bowler in the 260 game, and he’s bowling with great confidence. He stepped up when I asked him to bowl against MSD in the 19th over. (On bowling Chahar in the 19th) The pace bowlers were going for a bit in the end, and I wanted to try something different.”
The Englishman said it is imperative to take some gambles in T20 format and was delighted that his move to bring Chahar in the 19th over, worked wonders. Curran also added this win will add a shot in the arm to their team.
Curran added, “Asked Rilee what he reckoned and took that gamble with spin. In this game where everyone has been going for runs, you need to take such gambles. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. We come against the same opposition so we have one up on them. It is a new game, new conditions but this win will give us a lot of confidence. I think our bowlers were superb, the spinners and Jonny striking them well, even the way we paced that chase, it was brilliant. Need to build on that confidence.”
Punjab Kings will once again take on Chennai Super Kings at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala on Sunday.
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