On Sunday night, Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) suffered a 5-wicket defeat (with 5 balls to spare) in their must-win game against the hosts Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium (Pune).

CSK captain MS Dhoni decided to field first after winning the toss. Despite the poor top-order batting collapse, KXIP managed to put the 153 runs (153 in 19.4 overs) on the board due to some good middle-order batting performances. It meant KXIP should restrict CSK for 100 or lower runs to qualify for the playoffs.

However, KXIP failed on their mission as CSK chased down that target successfully in 19.1 overs after losing 5 wickets.

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Now, we will briefly talk about some important reasons for KXIP’s defeat in this game.

Also read: Match 56 (CSK vs KXIP) – Hits and Flops

Massive top-order failure

While it was their must-win game, KXIP top-order batting failed poorly. The opener Chris Gayle scored a duck, while another in-form opener KL Rahul was dismissed for just 7 runs and the no.3 batsman Aaron Finch departed on 4 runs. At the very beginning, KXIP went down to 16/3 in 4.4 overs.

Also read: (CSK vs KXIP) – Turning Point of the Match

Despite the middle-order batsmen played some important knocks and led them to a fight back in this game, those were not enough.