Chennai Super Kings captain Ruturaj Gaikwad pointed to the dew as the main reason for his side's defeat to Punjab Kings at Chepauk. The hosts suffered the worst of the conditions after losing the toss and were restricted to 162 for 7, with only one of their nine batsmen scoring over 150.
Gaikwad said when he was asked about the total at the post-match presentation:
"Probably I would say 50-60 runs short. Because of the pitch; we were batting first, the pitch wasn't that great. It got better, dew, plus the Impact Player [rule didn't help] as well.”
CSK were particularly hampered by Punjab's spinners, with Harpreet Brar and Rahul Chahar taking combined figures of 8-0-33-4. On the other hand, Ravindra Jadeja was the only spinner in CSK's arsenal, which was depleted going into the match with Tushar Deshpande (unwell) and Matheesha Pathirana (niggling) unavailable.
Their problems were compounded when they had to use Sameer Rizvi as an impact player for his batting, as Deepak Chahar pulled up in his delivery stride and walked off after bowling the first two balls of the chase. That left Gaikwad without a strike bowler and allowed Punjab's batsmen to capitalise.
It was CSK's second home defeat of the season and their match against Rajasthan Royals on 12 May is their only remaining group match in Chennai. They have lost three of their last four away matches and will face Punjab again in Dharamsala.