IPL 2021, PBKS vs CSK: 3 dream spells by Deepak Chahar
It was a nightmare start for PBKS on Friday (April 16) after CSK's Deepak Chahar ran through the top order to leave KL Rahul's side in tatters. Chahar's career-best spell for 4/13 ensured that PBKS were left gasping for recovery after an attack that saw them limp to 106-8 in their 20 overs.
It all went right for CSK and Chahar since ball one. After getting one to swing into Mayank Agarwal, the Rajasthan pacer cleaned him up the very next ball with a peach of a delivery which commentator Sunil Gavaskar labelled a "jaffa" that did Agarwal in.
That said, Chahar has been a revelation since playing for the now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiant. Since then he has gone on to spearhead the CSK pace attack.
We take a look at some of his dream spells over the course of his IPL career.
1) CSK vs SRH (IPL 2018) Deepak Chahar ends with 3/15
It was Chahar's first three-wicket haul in the IPL as he scalped the wickets of Ricky Bhui, Manish Pandey and Deepak Hooda while CSK set out to defend 182 after riding high on useful fifties from Suresh Raina (54) and Ambati Rayudu (79).
Chahar's three-for dented the SRH middle-order as they eventually fell short of the target to finish with 178 for 6.
2) CSK vs KKR (IPL 2019) Deepak Chahar bags 3/20
KKR were held to a paltry 109 for 8 and CSK had Deepak Chahar to thank after the quick picked up three wickets, his second three-for in the IPL.
He castled Chris Lynn for nought, and then Nitish Rana and Robin Uthappa in double-quick time as KKR were pegged back to 24 for 4. Chahar's nippy line on a slow Chennai track paid dividends and he was ably assisted by tweakers Harbhajan Singh (2/15) and Imran Tahir (2/21). Chahar, on his part, ended with figures of 3/20.
It was a comfortable chase for CSK with Faf du Plessis cracking an unbeaten 43 off 45 balls to take the team home.
3) CSK vs PBKS (IPL 2021) Deepak Chahar scalps 4/13
In the lead-up to the game, MS Dhoni was under the radar for his slow over-rate, but Chahar made his life a lot easier by toppling Punjab's top-order. The pacer picked out Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Deepak Hooda and Nicolas Pooran in quick succession.
He bowled out his four-over quota in the early part of the innings, prising out the PBKS batsmen to set CSK on the way to what could be a comfortable victory.