The rookie seamer Vaibhav Arora debuted on the big stage in Punjab Kings’ comfortable 54-run destruction of Chennai Super Kings in an IPL match on Sunday.
The T20’s nomad Liam Livingstone justified his Rs 11.50 crore cost by putting on a fantastic all-around display. Livingstone, who scored a 32-ball-60, set the stage.
However, the Chennai Super Kings bowlers made an incredible comeback after the end of the match, holding Mayank Agarwal’s side to 180-8 in 20 overs.
DREAM DEBUT OF Vaibhav Arora
Then, the little-known Himachal Pradesh seamer Arora (4-0-21-2) played as if he controlled the game, getting rid of Robin Uthappa and Moeen Ali, and CSK only managed 126 overs in the 18-over close in the pursuit.
After his bat, Livingstone (3-0-25-2) then transformed into the “golden wrist” as his leg-breaks landed him a few wickets. He also made the final catch to top off a fantastic night.
CSK has suffered their third defeat in a row, and unless Deepak Chahar can make a quick comeback, the prospects aren’t very good for the ‘Yellow Brigade’ and its skipper, de facto Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
READ MORE: Andre Russell, fifty powers KKR wins against Punjab Kings.
A few more losses could put them under immense pressure, and they could be within a distance of the point that they are out of the game.
Arora received solid support from the ex- SD College Chandigarh teammate Arshdeep Singh (2/13 in two overs) in the opening period, during which his captain Agarwal bowled Arora out. Rahul Chahar (3/25 in four in 4 overs) was steady in the back 10, and his three wickets comprised one of Dhoni.
Arora did not do anything extravagant other than pitching it fuller with a hint of seam movements occasionally.
Uthappa tried to flick the ball, but Moeen, with no precise footwork, pulled a delivery out of the line to his base. Ravindra Jadeja also skippered him also met the same fate because of a lack of foot movement.
In just a few minutes, CSK were 36 for five before Dhoni (23 of 28 balls) was joined by Shivam Dube (57 off 30 balls), which did delight fans in the Brabourne crowd with some lusty blows, but it was the game of catch-up that played for CSK.
The infamous struggles of Dhoni weren’t much good for CSK neither did they help CSK because Dube was able to do too much to accomplish in the shortest amount of time.
ALL ROUND PERFORMANCE OF Livingstone
Livingstone completed an excellent day by removing Dube by bowling an off-side delivery and then diving fully stretched off his bowling to take out Dwayne Bravo.
Before his ball-playing exploits, Livingstone, one of the most destructive T20 batters in the world leagues, had a breakthrough finally with five fours and a similar number of sixes. He also sent the CSK bowlers to a hunt for leather during the first overs.
Deepak Chahar’s absence severely affected Dhoni’s (the real skipper’s) options, as the rookie left-arm seamer Mukesh Choudhary (4-0-52-1) was a heavy price due to his inexperience and nerves that are twitching.
There were 100 meters plus sixes from length balls. Even the edges with thick edges were for six, with CSK bowlers staring in confusion until they saw him in the crease. Livingstone was known to shimmy across the track to disrupt the length, as he did with his shrewd Bravo.
Bravo, under pressure, was able to force Dhoni to get up from the stumps to stop Livingstone from advancing down the track, but this did not deter the player from playing his strokes.
What might cause the most disappointment to Dhoni is that CSK offered just 71 runs during the final 10 overs, with a large portion of credit towards their trio of international pacers – Dwaine Pretorius (4-0-30-2), Dwayne Bravo (3-0-32-1) and Chris Jordan (4-0-23-2), who employed variations to good effect.
The bulk of the 55 dots ball in the second half of the Punjab innings.
Livingstone and Shikhar Dhawan (33 off 24 balls) added 95 for the third wicket in only 8.4 overs. It appeared that a 200-plus score was in the pipeline.
When Bravo’s faster ball fooled Dhawan, Punjab established the foundation, scoring 109 runs within the first 10 runs that the batters who came after were unable to capitalize on.
However, once Livingstone was gone, The ‘Reds’ could not sustain the momentum, but the Vidarbha’s Jitesh Sharma (26 off 17 balls), with his shrewd strokeplay, demonstrated why he’s so highly regarded.
