For the 5th straight time in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Punjab Kings secured a victory against Chennai Super Kings, this time defeating the Ruturaj Gaikwad-led side by 7 wickets. Though Punjab haven’t had the best of IPL 2024 campaign, securing just 4 wins in 10 matches, they couldn’t resist the opportunity of trolling the Super Kings, having dominated them on yet another occasion. PBKS, in a series of posts on social media, wrote ‘Thala for a reason’, drawing references to the number 7.

At first, PBKS trolled CSK after getting Dhoni run-out in the match. As Dhoni became the Kings’ 7th wicket of the innings, they wrote: “Dhoni was our 7th wicket today! Thala for a reason!”

Dhoni was our 7th wicket today!

Thala for a reason!

— Punjab Kings (@PunjabKingsIPL) May 1, 2024

Later, referring to their own position in the points table, 7, Punjab Kings once again wrote “Thala for a reason”.

Our position in the points table! 

Thala for a reason!  pic.twitter.com/nKWjZFm10u

— Punjab Kings (@PunjabKingsIPL) May 1, 2024

CSK could only muster a below-par 162/7. Gaikwad made a handsome 62 but other batters struggled against accurate spin bowling by Harpreet Brar and Rahul Chahar.

CSK had to make two changes for the match as their Sri Lankan pacer Pathirana was nursing a niggle and Deshpande was unwell.

Replacements Richard Gleeson and Shardul Thakur failed to impress as heavy dew set in during PBKS’s chase.

“It is a real problem (not having Pathirana and Deshpande). There are phases where you want to get a wicket, and you have only two bowlers, plus the spinners are out of the question because of the dew. Can’t do much,” Gaikwad rued during the post-match presentation.

The skipper added that the dew compounded CSK’s problem as they tried to restrict PBKS batters.

“It’s very difficult. Even in the last game, we were quite surprised that we would win by that much margin.

“This (dew) is something we can’t control. We can slightly bat better in the first innings. In the last two games, we tried our best to get 200-210. It was tough to get 180 in this pitch,” he said.

Gaikwad said another 50-60 runs would have made the difference.

“50-60 runs short to be honest. When we were batting first, the pitch wasn’t great, plus the dew as well (in the second innings).”