LEFT, THE RIGHT WAY FOR SUPER KINGS

Left-arm spinners Jadeja and Santner come together to deliver a crucial victory for Chennai against Punjab Kings

- GOMESH Ss

AT the halfway mark during the first innings between Chennai Super Kings and Punjab Kings, the scoreboard at the scenic HPCA Stadium, Dharamsala read CSK 79/4. Super Kings had lost in-form opener and captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, spin-basher Shivam Dube, Daryl Mitchell and Ajinkya Rahane, with Ravindra Jadeja and Moeen Ali in the middle.

If all that is not enough, the news of Matheesha Pathirana's injury and his return to Sri Lanka came as a serious blow.

With Deepak Chahar's injury already becoming a concern, they were in a tricky place.

Chennai needed a win. But at that point, it seemed like they had no business winning the contest against Punjab.

And yet, about three hours later, the yellow team was all smiles. They had not just beaten, but convincingly outplayed the home side to secure a 28run victory which took them to third place in the points table (it could still change if Lucknow Super Giants beat Kolkata Knight Riders later in the evening). How did this turnaround happen? Two left-arm spin bowling all-rounders had a significant role to play Jadeja and Mitchell Santner.