At a time when the Chennai Super Kings kept losing wickets, Faf du Plessis used all of his experience and played a steady knock.
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South African batter Faf du Plessis played an outstanding knock emerging as the sole fighter in what was a dismal batting performance, by the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Thursday against the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Match 53 of the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The South African scored 76 runs off 55 deliveries and helped CSK reach 134-6 in 20 overs. He was extremely well supported by Ravindra Jadeja. CSK were 61-5 at one stage and a crucial partnership between Jadeja and Du Plessis saw them reach 128 without losing a single wicket. However, the majority of the batting in that partnership was done by the South African. CSK has, of course, qualified for the play-off stages of the tournament but they will be concerned regarding the performance of their batting unit on the day.
It really is a shock that Du Plessis is not a part of the South African team for the ICC T20 World Cup as he showed exactly why he is one of the best batters in world cricket. At a time when the Super Kings were losing wickets at regular intervals and failing to get bat on the ball, Du Plessis used all of his experience and played a steady knock. Some might have found it frustrating but it was absolutely crucial that he stayed in the middle until the final stages of the innings. It was a gamble that paid off as the South African scored an incredible 76 off 55 deliveries. He stepped on the accelerator towards the end of the innings and that helped CSK breach a score in excess of 130.
Jadeja might not have scored many runs but his role in supporting Du Plessis cannot be stressed upon enough. The all-rounder scored 15 runs off 17 deliveries, but it was his steadiness in the middle that finally allowed Du Plessis to let loose. Unfortunately, the rest of the CSK batting card does not cut a pretty picture. In-form opener Ruturaj Gaikwad only managed to score 12 runs off 14 deliveries, while skipper MS Dhoni made 12 runs off 15 deliveries. No one else got into double figures for the men in yellow.
For PBKS, the bowling performance was, quite simply, exceptional. Arshdeep Singh was in the limelight again as he picked a couple of wickets in his four overs and conceded 35 runs. England pacer Chris Jordan also bagged a couple of wickets in three overs for 20 runs. Mohammad Shami and Ravi Bishnoi picked one wicket each, with the former getting the all-important wicket of Du Plessis.
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