IPL 2018, KXIP vs CSK: 5 reasons why CSK lost

The 12th match of IPL 2018 was a clash of the “Kings” as the Kings XI Punjab took on the Chennai Superkings at Mohali. It was for the first time that R. Ashwin and M.S. Dhoni squared off against each other.

Chennai won the toss and opted to field first. Punjab opted to play Chris Gayle in place of Marcus Stoinis and the move paid off. Gayle along with his opening partner Rahul smashed the Chennai attack to all parts of the ground.

However, Chennai’s bowlers made an excellent comeback thereafter and Punjab was restricted to a score of 197. In reply, CSK got off to a bad start as they lost 3 wickets for just 56 runs on the board.

Punjab’s bowlers bowled intelligently in the middle overs as well to strangle the chase. Dhoni did try to make a match of it at the end with some stellar hitting but it was a bridge too far for Chennai. Eventually, the two-time champions Chennai lost out to Punjab by 4 runs. Let us have a look at the 5 reasons why the Chennai Super Kings lost the contest.

#1 Chris Gayle turns back the clock

Chris Gayle had not been in the best of the forms coming into the IPL. Hence, he was benched for the first 2 games. The Kings XI decided to test their luck by picking him in place of Marcus Stoinis for today’s game and Gayle did not disappoint.

Showing everyone why he is known as the universe boss, Gayle played a blistering knock. Taking his time at the start, Gayle decided to launch in the 4th over as he picked up consecutive boundaries off Harbhajan.

Gayle had a special liking for Deepak Chahar as he smashed him for 20 runs off the 6th over. His 63 runs of 33 balls helped Punjab post a healthy total of 197.