NEW DELHI: Key innings from Jonny Bairstow and Rilee Rossouw secured a comfortable seven-wicket victory for Punjab Kings against defending champions Chennai Super Kings in the IPL on Wednesday.
Chasing a target of 163, Punjab Kings rode on Bairstow's 46 and Rossouw's 43 to reach the target with 13 balls to spare at Chennai's M Chidambaram Stadium.
England's Bairstow continued his strong form from the previous match, where he scored an unbeaten 108 as Punjab chased down a record IPL target of 262 against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens.
Bairstow and Rossouw, a left-handed South African batsman, stitched a 64-run stand for the second wicket to set up the successful chase.
After the Punjab Kings' win, Rossouw revealed plans he set with Bairstow against the Yellow Brigade.
"Got to give credit to the bowlers, 160 on this wicket was chaseable. The way Jonny played today, hopefully, he takes this form forward and gives us the foundation to chase it down," Rossouw said after the match.
"[On plans when he was out there with Bairstow] See the ball and hit the ball, nothing really spoken about as to how many we need, just keeping it simple. [on his dismissal] Unfortunate. It was one of those things, so focussed on hitting the ball and one of those things, I missed out. It's never over, till it's over, we have still got the belief in the changeroom, we will focus on our game and not on the others. Hopefully things work out," Rossouw added.
Five-time winners CSK, who have won five and lost five matches in the tournament so far, are fourth in the 10-team table, led by Rajasthan Royals.
Punjab Kings are now in seventh place in the points table. With 4 wins in 10 matches, Punjab Kings have 8 points to their name.
