Chennai Super Kings complete spoilsport act, shatter Kings XI Punjab’s playoff dreams

Abu Dhabi : Chennai Super Kings (CSK) salvaged pride in their last league match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) with a convincing nine-wicket win on Sunday, and in the process, shattered Kings XI Punjab’s (KXIP) dreams of making it to the playoffs.The defeat saw KXIP ending the season with 12 points, placed fifth while CSK moved up to the seventh spot.KXIP failed to put a fighting total on board after being asked to bat. Later, CSK rode on Ruturaj Gaikwad’s unbeaten 62 along with Faf du Plessis’s 48 and Ambati Rayudu’s unbeaten 30 to cross the line with seven balls and nine wickets to spare.Chasing a target of 154, CSK raced to 57 runs in the first six overs.Just when du Plessis was two runs short of his fifth half-century this season, Chris Jordan (1/31) struck and left CSK 82/1 in 9.5 overs.Ruturaj and Rayudu accumulated the remaining runs in the next 54 balls and their 72-run partnership helped CSK finish what was an underwhelming season on a high.Earlier, Deepak Hooda (62 not out off 30) notched up his second IPL fifty to push KXIP to a fighting 153/6 in their 20 overs.Put into bat, KXIP suffered a collapse after a 48-run opening stand between captain K.L. Rahul and Mayank Agarwal. They were struggling at 72/4 in 11.5 overs before Hooda stitched 36-runs with Mandeep Singh (14) for the fifth wicket to steady the ship.After Mandeep fell to Ravindra Jadeja (1/17) in the 17th over, Lungi Ngidi (3/39) struck to send back incoming batsman Jimmy Neesham (2) cheaply.Hooda and Chris Jordan (4 not out) then blasted 40 runs off the final 17 balls as the former scored bulk of the runs, steering his side to a respectable score on board.Hooda’s knock was laced with three boundaries and four sixes
Brief scores: KXIP 153/6 in 20 overs (Deepak Hooda 62 not out, K.L. Rahul 29; Lungi Ngidi 3/39) vs CSK 154/1 in 18.1 overs (Ruturaj Gaikwad 62 not out, Faf du Plessis 48; Chris Jordan 1/31)