Priyansh Arya’s six parade exposes the deepening cracks in CSK’s yellow wall

This match would perhaps take both teams back to the day of auctions. Punjab Kings would feel vindicated at their successful pursuit of Priyansh Arya, Chennai Super Kings would rue the immense chance they missed to refurbish their squad. The 18-run defeat, their fourth of the season, shoves CSK further into the ass, while two points would fuel PBKS’s knockout pursuit.
Priyansh’s six parade
Six sixes in an over in a Delhi Premier League game; nearly two dozen sixes and a maximum every ninth ball he had faced in last edition’s Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, bowlers were forewarned of Priyansh Arya’s six-wielding prowess. On Tuesday, the well-worn CSK attack, several decades of wicket-taking expertise crammed amidst them, felt the sting of the sixes that rolled off his bat. From the first ball he faced to the deep end of his 42-ball 103, laced with nine sixes.
Amongst the unfortunate victims of his onslaught was Ravichandran Ashwin, who had tipped Priyansh to prosper this IPL. But he wouldn’t have expected their meeting to be this lop-sided. His 10 balls to him cost 28 runs, including three monstrous sixes. One through long-off (a catch but for Mukesh Chaudhary’s heel nudging the boundary cushion), another sledgehammered through mid-wicket and another was whled past over the long-off fielder. At the end of the carnage, Ashwin’s admiration had turned into a sense of dread as he returned with his hideous figures of 4-0-48-2.
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He was not the only one. Arya tattered the reputation of Matheesha Pathirana, the Sri Lankan slinger walloped for three successive sixes. None perhaps as sumptuous as his first swipe, when he sweet-spotted a low full toss over backward point, all fast hands and delightful placement. The charge came during a phase of the game when CSK were clawing back into the game with a steady stream of wickets. In four overs, two apiece Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, Kings Punjab eked out only 19 runs and traded the wickets of Glenn Maxwell and Nehal Wadhera. Suddenly, they had lost half the side for 94 runs.
Priyansh Arya of Punjab Kings raises his bat after scoring a hundred against Chennai Super Kings at Mullanpur. (Express Photo Kamleshwar Singh)
But Priyansh let the storm pass before whipping up a hurricane himself. It wasn’t the speed with which he scored that was impressive so much as the style with which he did it. He exuded a nonchalance reminiscent of Chris Gayle, and like the Jamaican the shots were powerful yet graceful.
Simplicity is the essence of his batting. He moves back and across, and then locks himself still. He judges the length early, processes the shot he thinks that could yield him the maximum profit and executes without any frills. The bat-swing is fluid, the follow-through minimal. Against seamers, he resorts to nothing savage, but picks his spots, uses their pace and glides them towards the fence. He dials more power against the spinners, but still there is no brutal wood in his willow. His sound temper too stood out—the loss of partners in powerplay didn’t fluster him, the squeeze in early middle overs didn’t harrow him. He batted as though the tone of the knock was pre-programmed in his brain.
He was thrice dropped—the second ball caught-and-bowled escape off Khaleel Ahmed was the simplest—but he gleefully latched onto his lives to construct a knock that would make the highlight collage of IPL for years to come. Story continues below this ad
Cracks in the yellow wall
As CSK limped to a tame finish, a few harsh realisations would have gathered strength. That the cracks in the yellow wall are getting wider and deeper, so much so that only the skeletons of a wondrous past exs. MS Dhoni did strike three vintage sixes and a four, but there was no grand finish. Perhaps, this was a sign that he needed to bat up the order and preserve himself for cameos up the order.
But CSK were too flawed a side to hunt down a target as steep as 220, even if the pitch was flat, the outfield lightning quick and the fielders in a drunken mood (5 dropped catches). After the brisk start, the tempo dropped in the middle overs, not so much due to suffocating bowling as due to their baffling caginess. It might stem from their awareness that the lower order lacks depth and a genuine power-hitter. So Devon Conway and Shivam Dube thought they had to take the game as deep as possible to orchestrate a he. That the first six of the innings arrived in the 10th over captures a story of ineptness.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni bats against Punjab Kings in CSK’s defeat in the IPL. (Express Photo Kamleshwar Singh)
The real push only came after the 13th over. At this juncture, the visitors required exactly 100 off 42 balls. The 19-run over resuscitated hope. But Dube’s departure on 42 with the total score at 151 in 15.5—a Lockie Ferguson knuckle-ball knocking his stumps, realically ended their hopes.
Not just the composition of their batting, their bowling and some of the tactical decisions too could be subject to soul-searching. Before the 19th over, Conway, CSK’s most composed batsman on the night, retired hurt. Instead strode in Ravindra Jadeja, who these days takes time to get out of his straps. Understandably, he wasted the first two balls, eking out just singles, when boundaries were the bare minimum required.