Chennai: In Sunday’s thrilling afternoon match between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Punjab Kings (PBKS), Sikandar Raza was at the strike when the visitors needed three runs off the last ball for a victory at Chepauk.
Raza eventually helped Punjab to victory by taking three runs off a slower delivery from Matheesha Pathirana going over backward square leg, remaining unbeaten on 13 off 7 balls.
Now, lower-order batter Shahrukh Khan, who was at non-striker’s end as Raza got the winning runs to chase down 201 successfully, revealed that he had advised the Zimbabwe all-rounder to stand outside the leg-stump to get runs off Pathirana.
“I advised Sikandar to stand away from the leg stump because the bowler (Matheesha Pathirana) was bowling low and chances were to hit the ball from the middle of the bat. According to me, Pathirana is one of the best death overs bowlers currently and to get 10 runs off his over is a big thing for us,” said Shahrukh in a video posted by the IPL on their social media accounts.
Shahrukh also pointed out that Liam Livingston hitting three sixes off Tushar Deshpande in the 16th over yielding 24 runs completely changed the game.
“With the way we played, I think this is the one match to remember for us. It was a proper team win as everyone contributed from up to down. The over in which Livingstone hit three sixes changed the momentum in our favour.”
Initially, opener Prabhsimran Singh led Punjab’s charge with 42 off 24 balls. He gave a glimpse into what was his mindset while coming out to bat. “Shikhar Paji (captain Shikhar Dhawan) had only told me to stay focussed on playing and backing my own game, which will bring good results. And that was exactly what happened.”
He also took the attack to Chennai’s spinners, especially against off-spinner Maheesh Theekshana.
“I had only planned to hit the ball if it was in my range. It happened when Theekshana was bowling and had thought of creating room to hit off him. I managed to get two boundaries off him.”
Punjab’s next game in IPL 2023 will be against five-time champions Mumbai Indians at the IS Bindra PCA Stadium in Mohali on Wednesday evening.
–IANS