Chennai Super Kings were handed their fifth loss of IPL 2024 when Punjab Kings chased down 163 in 17.5 overs on Wednesday.
CSK were sans key players Matheesha Pathirana and Tushar Deshpande while defending the paltry score and skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad admitted that they were also 50-60 runs short of a good total.
Speaking along similar lines as the captain was head coach Stephen Fleming at the post-match press conference, 'We just got stifled through the middle, which stopped us probably getting a score of 180. I don't think that would have been enough. And it's just the changes. There's a small window when the ball's dry and it sticks in the wicket a little bit. But then it gets a little bit tricky to hold the ball well enough to execute variations.'
Fleming also lauded PBKS for their all-round performance, 'They were aggressive enough, and we were a little bit off as well as we were chasing the game. So all in all it's a disappointing day, but part of the IPL really when you're on the wrong side of it. And we were a bit muddled, and a bit inaccurate with bat and ball to compete.'
Jonny Bairstow and Rilee Rossouw's 64-run second wicket partnership set Punjab on the way to their fourth win of the campaign.
Captain Sam Curran and Shashank Singh carried the Kings over the line with unbeaten scores of 26 and 25 respectively.
Harpreet Brar was named player of the match after taking two wickets for 17 runs in the Super Kings' innings.