IPL 2018, CSK vs KXIP: Aaron Finch dropping Harbhajan Singh is SK Turning Point of the match
The Chennai Super Kings secured a five-wicket victory over the Kings XI Punjab in the last league game of Indian Premier League 2018 at the Maharashtra Cricket Association stadium in Pune on Sunday (May 21).
It was an exciting encounter in the context of the tournament, with KXIP still in with a slim chance of making it to the playoffs, after the Delhi Daredevils beat the Mumbai Indians at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium earlier on the day. However, Ravichandran Ashwin needed to beat his former side by a margin of 53 runs or more, which proved to be too much of an ask from a side of CSK's quality.
The Men in Yellow played around with their batting order, and yet, reached the total with five balls to spare. After winning the toss and electing to bowl first, MS Dhoni and Co. restricted Punjab to a total of 153 in the first innings of the game. A refreshing spell of fast bowling from Lungi Ngidi terrorized the KXIP batsmen, as they fell like nine pins to the pace, bounce, and seam that he extracted from the pitch.
The chase did not start off well for CSK, though, as Faf du Plessis returned to the pavilion after scoring just 14 runs and Sam Billings was dismissed for a golden duck. That's when Dhoni decided to have a little fun while testing the batting depth of his team simultaneously, as he sent in Harbhajan Singh at Number 4.
The Turbanator went on about his batting as he always does, swinging his powerful willow at almost every delivery that was bowled at him! He hit some, he missed many, but he stayed put.
Punjab did have a chance of sending Singh back to the dressing room early in his innings, though, as Ankit Rajpoot was in the middle of a fiery bowling spell at the top of the order. He had already dismissed two batsmen in the fifth over of the chase and was bowling rippers one after the other to torment the home batsmen. Rajpoot extracted an edge off Singh's bat off the second ball that he faced, but the latter was dropped by Aaron Finch at second slip.
The drop proved to be the SK Turning Point of the match. Not only did it give the right-handed batsman a new lease on his innings, but it kept CSK from falling into a perilous position within the first six overs. The fact that Bhajji stayed around for almost five more overs and scored 19 runs in the period gave Dhoni the chance to extend his experiment, as he brought on Deepak Chahar after the former's dismissal.
The seam-bowler grabbed the opportunity with both hands, displaying his all-round ability for the first time in the tournament. He played an impressive knock of 39 off just 20 deliveries, taking the game away from KXIP's grasp and writing CSK's name all over it.
Chennai's win means that the Rajasthan Royals retain their place at Number 4, becoming the last team to qualify for the playoffs this year.