Chennai Super Kings guaranteed that they will top the IPL table and earn the easiest possible route through the play-offs, and in the process condemned Kings XI Punjab, finalists last year, to bottom spot, with an emphatic seven-wicket victory in Mohali.
It was a convincing victory that looked on the cards once Kings XI’s innings got off to a miserable start, their first five wickets falling for 55 runs. Glenn Maxwell, one of the stars of the 2014 IPL, when he scored 552 runs and averaged 34.50, failed again – he ends this season with 145 runs at an average of 13.18, and the depth of his funk was exposed here when he misjudged a straightening ball from Jadeja that clipped the top of middle stump.
With Chennai’s spinners keeping the run rate down and wickets falling on a regular basis – David Miller being brilliantly caught by Ravindra Jadeja in deep midwicket – only a fine 34-run seventh-wicket stand between Axar Patel and Rishi Dhawan allowed Kings XI to post a competitive total, though 130 seemed unlikely to present too much trouble for Chennai.
Their chase started badly, with Michael Hussey, making his first appearance of the season, falling for one in the first over and his fellow opener Brendon McCullum following soon afterwards, after edging Beuran Hendricks’ delivery into his stumps.
But Faf du Plessis, with 55, brought Chennai to the brink of victory and Suresh Raina, with 41 – aided by a drop by the thoroughly disheartened Maxwell – and MS Dhoni, whose 16-ball 25 included consecutive sixes in the 17th and, as it turned out, final over, completed the job.
“It’s been a disappointing season,” said George Bailey, the losing captain. “We’ll regroup, we’ll look to improve where we can and come back fresher and better. I don’t think anyone’s had an outstanding year. Guys have had good games, but we haven’t had anyone dominate. I think across the board we can improve. That’s the nature of the tournament a little bit too. We all start on zero next year, don’t we?”
