IPL 2020: Match 18, KXIP vs CSK – A record IPL chase, CSK’s biggest stand, MS Dhoni’s milestones and more stats

Chennai Super Kings put a break to their 3-match losing streak following a record 10-wicket win over the Kings XI Punjab on Sunday. KL Rahul anchored Punjab’s inning with a 52-ball 63 but some contributions from middle-order helped them to finish on 178/4. The chase went completely in the favour of CSK as their openers Faf du Plessis and Shan Watson scored 87 and 83 respectively without getting dismissed. The win helped the Super Kings move out of the bottom position in the points table.

Here are all the statistical highlights from Chennai Super Kings’ record 10-wicket win:
A big chase without losing a wicket:
179 – The 179-run chase by Chennai Super Kings is now the 2nd highest successful run-chase by any team without losing a wicket. The highest is 184 by Kolkata Knight Riders against Gujarat Lions during the 2017 edition.

2 – This is the 2nd instance of CSK winning an IPL match by a margin of 10 wickets. They defeated KXIP during the 2013 edition without losing a wicket while chasing a 139-run target in Mohali. Royal Challengers Bangalore (3) and CSK are the only teams to win an IPL match more than once by 10 wickets.

CSK’s biggest stand ever:
181* – The unbeaten partnership of 181 between Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis is now the highest for Chennai Super Kings for any wicket. Their previous biggest stand in the IPL was 159 for the first wicket between Murali Vijay and Mike Hussey against RCB in the 2011 season final game. Their partnership is the 3rd highest for any team during an IPL chase and also the 4th biggest for the first wicket in the league.

Faf continues his good record against KXIP:
6 – Faf du Plessis now has six fifties against Kings XI Punjab in the IPL across nine innings. Faf has score 454 runs against KXIP thus far at an average of 56.73 and a strike rate of 150.83.

Dhoni @ 100 catches:
100 – MS Dhoni completed 100 catches as a wicketkeeper in the IPL with the catch of KL Rahul. He is only the 2nd keeper after Dinesh Karthik (111) to claim as many as 100 IPL catches.

100 – The catch of Rahul is also the 100th catch of MS Dhoni in the Twenty20 cricket for Chennai Super Kings. He is the 2nd player after Suresh Raina (103) to claim as many as 100 catches in T20s for CSK. Steven Croft is the only other player to have taken as many as 100 catches in T20s for a single team. Croft, who featured in the T20 blast semis on Sunday, held 105 catches for Lancashire.

A good game for the openers:
269 – The 269 runs collectively scored by the openers of both the teams in this match makes it the 3rd highest aggregate by opening batsmen in an IPL match. A total of 294 runs scored by openers during the CSK-RR match in Chennai during the 2010 edition a couple of weeks after the RCB-KXIP game in Bangalore which saw an aggregate of 279 runs by the opening batters.

Dhoni goes past Raina yet again:
165 – The game against KXIP was the 164th match in the IPL of MS Dhoni for Chennai Super Kings. He is now the most capped IPL player for CSK going past Suresh Raina’s 164 appearances.

189 – Dhoni, on Sunday, also became the most capped player of Chennai Super Kings in the T20 format as he surpassed Raina’s 188 T20 appearances for the Super Kings.