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Abu Dhabi: Glenn Maxwell butchered 95 off 43 balls as Kings XI Punjab achieved the third best chase in IPL history against Chennai Super Kings in Abu Dhabi. Maxwell's 115-run stand with David Miller was the key in KXIP's momentous victory.
Chasing 206, Virender Sehwag slammed Mohit Sharma and Ashish Nehra for a couple of boundaries. However, after hitting Nehra for a couple of boundaries, Sehwag perished for 19. R Ashwin removed Cheteshwar Pujara in his fourth ball while he sent back Akshar Patel in his second over. However, Glenn Maxwell and David Miller decided to bat with confidence as they went after the bowlers.
CSK started to feel the pressure in the field. Nehra dropped Maxwell on 37 while Miller was dropped by du Plessis on 17. Both times, it was Ravindra Jadeja who was the unlucky bowler. Maxwell once again benefitted from a drop by Dwayne Bravo on 43 as he notched up his sixth T20 fifty off 25 balls. He tore into Pawan Negi by smashing him for three fours and a six. CSK's slackiness in the field continued as Samuel Badree, the substitute for Dwayne Bravo, dropped Maxwell on 77. In total, CSK had dropped three catches in the space of four overs.
Dwayne Smith got CSK back in the game by dismissing Maxwell. However, Miller struck two consecutive sixes off Jadeja and he notched up his 16th T20 fifty to help KXIP get over the line by six wickets with an over to spare.
Earlier in the day, CSK opted to bat first on a good pitch and McCullum started the fireworks by smashing two consecutive fours in the second over bowled by Parwinder Awana. He did not let up from that moment and he tore into Mitchell Johnson by upper-cutting him for a six. The fifth over bowled by Awana had some action as McCullum was dropped on 22 by skipper George Bailey. In the process, he went past 5000 runs in T20s, becoming only the fourth batsman to achieve this feat after Chris Gayle, David Hussey and Brad Hodge.
By the end of the powerplay, CSK had raced to 70/0 which was their highest ever powerplay score in the IPL. McCullum notched up a fifty off just 30 balls and it seemed that he would repeat his fireworks exactly six years ago to this day when he smashed 158 for KKR against RCB in IPL 1. The opening stand looked threatening before Akshar Patel broke the 123-run opening stand by sending back McCullum for 67.
Rishi Dhawan and Lakshmipathy Balaji bowled well in the middle overs as they pulled things back. Smith notched up his 22nd T20 fifty before Balaji sent him back for 66. MS Dhoni smashed 18 runs in the last over as CSK notched up 205/4. In the process, they went past 200 for the 10th time in the IPL, the most by any team. However, as the exploits of Maxwell and Miller showed, this was not enough.
Earlier, Chennai have won the toss and elect to bat.
Faf du Plessis, Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Bravo and Dwayne Smith are the overseas players in CSK squad.
Glenn Maxwell, David Miller and Mitchell Johnson with captain George Bailey are the overseas players in KXIP.
Teams
Chennai : Brendwon McCullum, Dwayne Smith, Suresh Raina, Faf du Plessis, MS Dhoni (Capt & wk), DwayneBravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Pawan Negi, Ashish Nehra, Mohit Sharma
Punjab: Virendra Sehwag, Chetershwar Pujara, David Miller, Glenn Maxwell, George Bailey, WP Saha (wk), Mitchell Johnson, Akshar Patel, Rishi Dhawan, Parvinder Awana, L Balaji
Brief scores
Chennai - 205/4 (McCullum 67, Smith 66, Balaji 2-43)
Punjab - 206/4 (Maxwell 95, Miller 54*, Ashwin 2-41)
Result - Kings XI Punjab won by 6 wickets
Points - Kings XI Punjab 2, Chennai Super Kings 0
MOM - Glenn Maxwell (KXIP)
