Live Blog - PBKS collapse gives CSK hope

29 Jitesh Sharma's highest score this season from eight innings. He's just been part of a procession - PBKS losing 3 for 7 in 11 balls

Ashutosh Sharma, meanwhile, is working things well here. He understands he is the last recognised batter and that PBKS need to shave off a lot of this target first before they start playing the big shots again. He has, however, been hit on the body twice by the pace of Simarjeet Singh.

What kind of nonsense game is this?

CSK's innings went through a weird progression and now its PBKS' turn.

They were running away with the game as stated before with six boundaries in 18 balls. That brought the equation down to 112 off 78. But the next eighth, ninth and tenth overs result in two wickets. Including the set batters'.

43m ago

PBKS do not let go of any opportunity to attack. Even when they seem second best, they find a way to access the boundary, like Prabhsimran Singh did when Deshpande went into the wicket - which is the area where there is some help on offer - and despite the ball coming in and cramping him for room, and giving him no way out, he holds his shape and plays the ramp and with point and third inside the circle it's an easy boundary. That prompts Deshpande to go full, which isn't the best length to bowl on this pitch, and he gets smashed.

6 boundaries - four fours and two sixes - between the fifth and the seventh overs

I think I'm being forced to change my mind about this pitch, just as Harshal Patel had to earlier.

The new ball is decking about. Deshpande's second over had three plays and misses, and also one crunching hit for four.

The difference is the length. The four was a fuller ball. The others were a touch short of a good length and hitting that spot is giving the bowler extra bounce and that allied with his own skill to get seam movement is making things difficult out there.

168 is still the kind of target batting teams will fancy getting even if they wobble. Because every bowling in opposition needs to be perfect to defend that kind of total. New recruit Richard Gleeson isn't.

1h ago

Goes clean through Jonny Bairstow who plays all around a straight delivery. That's the early wicket CSK were desperate for. But they can't stop now. Punjab Kings' strength lies in the middle order with Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma in particular showing great mettle all through the season. They're going to have to test them by making them play a lot more deliveries than they're used to

Double wicket over! This one was a peach. It is angled across the left-handed Rilee Rossouw from over the wicket, but when it pitches, it holds its line and almost hurries the batter up. Incredible work. Sometime after the toss was done, there were visuals of Deshpande with the fourth umpire and a box of balls. Usually, your senior bowler picks the ball that they will work with for the game. Think Jimmy Anderson or Jasprit Bumrah. Deshpande started as a net bowler with CSK. To rise up as high as he has, it's special.

18 percent - PBKS' probability of victory went down by 18.66% over the course of that one Deshpande over

CSK bought Mitchell Santner in 2018. He played his first IPL game in 2019. It is five years later now. Today is only his 16th game for the franchise. Starts off well though, cramping the two right-handers with his high-pace, flat-trajectory darts that rarely ever stray leg side.

Harshal Patel in his first four matches 2 for 47, 1 for 45, 0 for 45 and 1 for 44.

Harshal Patel in his next seven matches 2 for 30, 1 for 21, 3 for 31, 3 for 15, 1 for 48, 0 for 12 and 3 for 24

In the mid-innings interview, he says he might have misjudged the pitch. He thought there were a lot more runs in it but as they began to bowl on it, they realised two things - the dry square was helping the ball reverse and when they went into the wicket with their short ones, it wasn't coming into the bat.

1h ago

7 spinners with an economy rate under 8 in this IPL (min 60 balls bowled) Both Rahul Chahar (8 wickets) and Harpreet Brar (6 wickets) are in that list

This final over from Chahar has changed things though. His economy rate is now at 8.15, but that still puts him among the top-10 most misery spinners in IPL 2024

1h ago

11 of the 18 balls that Rahul Chahar has bowled have arrived to the batter outside the off stump or even wider.

That's a symptom of having to bowl to left-handers a lot, and looking to always spin it away from them, to keep it away from their hitting arc. That's really good defensive bowling.

1h ago

Just in case anyone's wondering, this looks a good pitch. There's good bounce. There's a hint of turn. Batters have been able to hit through the line. The problem for CSK is they're ticking every box that you shouldn't tick in a batting innings in T20 cricket.

They lost a wicket in the powerplay. Then just as they were recovering - backing up overs that went for 19 and 9 runs - they lost three wickets in 11 balls. Then just as they were recovering from that - backing up overs that went for 11 and 9 runs - they lost another wicket.

It's credit to Sam Curran the PBKS captain because he trusted Rahul Chahar to bowl to Ruturaj Gaikwad who took apart his other spinner. That yielded two wickets. Now he's off the attack and may once again be paired with MS Dhoni when he comes out to bat.

Curran's taken a wicket too, dismissing Moeen Ali with a short ball, which has always been a little bit of a weakness for him. PBKS have done really well, and things have gone their way too. For example, the Mitchell wicket with the ball staying low.

2h ago

PBKS' wrist spinner fares a lot better with his first over. Might have had something to do with how he has five men on the boundary now. Rahul Chahar takes out Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shivam Dube in successive deliveries. That means Shivam Dube, CSK's designated spin-hitter, has bagged back-to-back ducks facing spin. A touch more bounce in Dharamsala, which comes into play as both batters go for the cut shot and nick off to the keeper.

60 CSK's score at the end of the powerplay today, their third-best in this season. They've been slow at the starts of their innings

This is usually how they like to play. They see what what's and then they go bang bang. The problem is, they haven't been able to accelerate through the innings. They have a run-rate of 8.57 in the middle overs (7-16). Only Gujarat Titans have been scoring their runs slower.

2h ago

In Chennai, Harpreet Brar completed all four of his overs and gave away just 17 runs. Here, on a very different kind of pitch, he's been smashed for 19 in just one over.

3h ago

Breaking news: Chennai Super Kings pacer Matheesha Pathirana is nursing a hamstring injury and will be returning to Sri Lanka for further recovery. The right-arm pacer played six matches in IPL 2024 picking up 13 wickets at an economy of 7.68. Chennai Super Kings wishes Pathirana a quick recovery.

6 sixes for Ajinkya Rahane in nine innings in IPL 2024. Last year, in 11 innings, he hit 16 sixes

Ajinkya Rahane was a batter transformed last season at CSK simply because he seemed to be more inclined to hit the ball in the air. There have often been occasions where he sees a length ball on off stump and instead of just blocking it, he plants his front foot forward and just a touch out of the way, and swings through the line targeting the mid-on and midwicket. Once he was even captured scooping the ball. I'm not even joking.

He showcased that kind of intent right at the start of his innings, which may have been necessary because he was batting one drop. Now, as opener, with the entire 20 overs in front of him, and the damage that early wickets pose to the innings, he seems to have reverted to the old ways. He's also had a calf niggle to deal with. Arshdeep Singh takes him out now with an attempted inswinging yorker. That's his fifth score of 15 or fewer. He has only three over 30.

3h ago

Sam Curran says its the same team and he's bowling because its a day game, inferring that conditions get better to bat in the evening. Plus fielding right now in Dharamsala shouldn't be a problem. The temps are waaaay better than other places in the country.

10 out of 11 tosses that Ruturaj Gaikwad has lost so far

Gaikwad says Mitchell Santner is playing in place of Mustafizur Rahman and mentions no other changes. Still no Pathirana then. He takes a little bit of pride in the fact that despite his wretched luck with the toss, they have won five of those games.

Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Daryl Mitchell, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Moeen Ali, MS Dhoni (wk), Mitchell Santner, Shardul Thakur, Tushar Deshpande, Richard Gleeson

Subs: Sameer Rizvi, Mukesh Choudhary, Simarjeet Singh, Shaik Rasheed, Prashant Solanki

Punjab Kings: Jonny Bairstow, Rilee Rossouw, Shashank Singh, Sam Curran (c), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Ashutosh Sharma, Harpreet Brar, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh

Subs: Prabhsimran Singh, Harpreet Bhatia, Tanay Thyagarajan, Vidwath Kaverappa, Rishi Dhawan

On an entirely unrelated note, but also not really because there are so many cricket fans who are also Star Wars fans, I hope y'all had a good May the 4th.

Has a random building in New York given us the second greatest Darth Vader scene ever (after the one in Rogue One?)No wait. THAT IS THE SCENE FROM ROGUE ONE!

So nice, they made em go at it twice. CSK and Punjab Kings will be putting on a show for us once again and - say it softly - it might even be better than the views that await people when they step off the plane in Dharamsala.

The totals in this year's IPL are threatening to reach the top of the Dhauladhars - or maybe they already have - and this ground is also one of the highest scoring in the country. It wasn't that long ago that a World Cup game took place here and 388 was feeling distinctly unsafe.