By Vadiraj Kanakagiri

The class. The grace. The touch. The finesse. The beauty. The muscle. If all of these qualities were embodied into one person, to go with all the shots in the book and some, then that person must look like Lokesh Rahul. And in his innings yesterday, fearlessness and free mindedness also joined forces with him, to produce an absolute spectacle. Those glorious cover drives pull shots with utter disdain, quick-hand cut shots and those nonchalant flicks of the wrist without feet movement, this innings had it all. If you had seen him start to unleash, you couldn't possibly have moved from your seat. 

In a game where Chennai had literally no gain, MS fielded his usual suspects without giving chance to anyone on the bench. Winning the toss, KL opted to field, maybe because, even he had that tiny little piece of hope of making it to the playoffs.

Ruturaj Gaikwad, for the second consecutive game, got out cheaply. After that magnificent hundred, he seems to have lost his touch. Teams have figured out a method to curtail his run-scoring. They are peppering him with short stuff. He fell victim to one of those. Out of form, Moeen Ali walked in at three. He didn't last long either as a result of the outstanding back of length stuff from Arshadeep. Uthappa missed out on consecutive games, pulling one in the air to deep square. The ever-reliable Rayudu too didn't bother the scorers much this time, cutting one in the air to an excellent running catch from Brar.

Faf was standing like a rock at the other end. A rock for real. He wasn't getting any of the big shots going, but since wickets were tumbling at the other end, his innings seemed sensible. Ms Dhoni walked in ahead of Jadeja. After an abysmal show in the previous game, where he scored 18 off 27, Dhoni had some things to prove. So he came out with intent. He tried to muscle one, on the second delivery he faced, even though edging it behind for four, he let everyone know that he meant business. But this feeling that his best days are behind him just keeps getting stronger. Ravi Bishnoi foxed MS with a beautiful googly that's pitched on off and hitting the middle. Dhoni could only inside edge it to his stumps. Known to be one of the best readers of spin bowling and getting bowled like this often, doesn't bode well to that title anymore.

The CSK innings limped along with Faf and Jadeja batting through. Du Plessis middled a couple to the boundary on the last two of the eighteenth. He got his powers back then, very late in this innings, when he smoked two monstrous sixes out of the park. Those final blows brought some respectability to this innings which ended on 134 for 6.

The equation was this. Punjab had to chase Chennai's target within 17 deliveries to get ahead the net run rate of KKR. Yes, it was a joke. But what they could've done is, finish the game as quickly as they can and hope for a big Rajasthan win against KKR. And they did their bit.

The evergreen opening pair Mayank and Rahul began their innings rather aggressively. Rahul in particular seemed to get things underway from ball one. Even though he edged a couple at the start, he looked like he's in the zone. Just as Mayank was about to cut loose, he has adjudged LBW when he tried to ramp a Shardul Thakur delivery by moving across the stumps. It did look like it would hit the leg stump to the naked eye, but it was worth a review. Agarwal was sure of himself to review this, but he went to his partner and his captain for his approval. Surprisingly enough, Rahul denied it. He looked quite sure that it was hitting. Mayank hesitantly walked off shaking his head, only to see the replays on the big screen of the ball missing the stumps. This was the only thing that Rahul did wrong in the game.

Punjab sent in Sarfaraz Khan at 3 to give the youngster some game time. But he looked so out of touch, like in the previous game and looped one straight to mid-off. Shahrukh Khan was sent in to see what he's got. He did send one into the stands, of which he's known for, but got out on miserly 8. Then came Aiden Markram to join his skipper in the middle.

To be fair, it didn't even matter who was batting at the other end. The Chennai team too didn't seem too happy, on getting three of the Punjabi wickets cheaply. All because of the way KL was going at the other end. He was just batting on another planet. There was just him and the ball. No bowlers, no fielders, no non-striker and no umpires. Just him and his beautiful elegant strokes. At least that's what I, who got sucked into the beauty of his innings, saw.

Rahul kept bludgeoning the bowling no matter where they bowled or what field they set. In the early part of this innings, he got hit on his grill when he top-edged a pull shot of Hazelwood straight into his grill. He had a smile on his face after that to let everyone know, this doesn't happen often. Hazlewood tried another short one soon after, to which Rahul pulled into orbit. Boundaries and sixes became a regularity with his onslaught. Even the master tactician, MS Dhoni looked clueless behind the wickets. Even though the target was just 135, Rahul himself looked like getting a century. Such was his dominance in this innings. But he was only deprived of that when Markram scored a couple of boundaries himself.

Rahul finished the game with a monstrous six over deep mid, that had gone miles in the air. He remained unbeaten on 98*. If ever an innings deserved a hundred, this was it. Chennai would hope they didn't have to play this game. Going into the playoffs, one needs to have a winning momentum on their side. Anyway, let's see whether the champion side can turn things around in the playoffs.

Brief Scores: Chennai Super Kings 134/6 (Faf du Plessis 76; Chris Jordan 2-20) lost to Punjab Kings 139/4 (KL Rahul 98*) by six wickets