Chahar's 4-13 leads Chennai to 6-wicket win vs Punjab in IPL

MUMBAI, India (AP) — Fast bowler Deepak Chahar grabbed 4-13 and led Chennai Super Kings to an emphatic six-wicket victory over Punjab Kings with 26 balls remaining in the Indian Premier League on Friday.

Chahar destroyed Punjab’s top order in an uninterrupted impressive spell of seam bowling to restrict Punjab to 106-8.

England’s Moeen Ali then scored 46 off 31 balls and seasoned batter Faf du Plessis remained unbeaten on 36 as Chennai recorded its first victory and reached 107-4 with more than four overs to spare.

Earlier, Chahar had justified captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s decision to field first after winning the toss. The right-arm fast bowler hit the top of Mayank Agarwal’s off stump off his fourth ball and Ravindra Jadeja’s direct throw from short cover left captain Lokesh Rahul well short of his crease.

“There was no dew and enough seam movement,” Dhoni said. “Over the years, he (Chahar) has matured into a death bowler too but he’s somebody who gets more purchase than other bowlers.”

Chahar removed the West Indian duo of Chris Gayle (10) and Nicholas Pooran (0) in his third over before he capped off his brilliant spell by having Deepak Hooda (10) caught at mid-off that left Punjab reeling at 26-5 in the seventh over.

Shahrukh Khan, who top-scored with 47 off 36 balls, couldn’t up the scoring rate as Jadeja bowled a tidy spell of 0-19. Khan finally holed out to Jadeja in the last over to give the economical Sam Curran (1-12) his first wicket.

Despite two late wickets for fast bowler Muhammed Shami (2-21), Punjab always looked behind as Ali and du Plessis shared a 66-run second-wicket stand to give Dhoni’s team its first win in two games.

“There’s not much more to say when any team loses five wickets in the first six or seven overs,” Rahul said. “You smile and see how you can do better if we get a similar situation … it’s important to learn from our mistakes, that’s the kind of team that we want to be.”

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