Many terrific batters have had long and explosive partnerships for CSK in the IPL over the years.
Faf du Plessis and Shane Watson, 181 Chasing Punjab's target of 179, the opening pair of Faf du Plessis and Shane Watson did not break a sweat as they added 181 runs within 17.4 overs to stroll home to a 10 wicket victory.
Chennai were not having a great season in 2020 but that all seemed to change suddenly with the panache in which the two openers went about their business.
The Punjab Kings bowling looked completely toothless in front of them as both batted at strike rates of well over 150. While Watson remained unbeaten on 83, Faf du Plessis was not out on 87 as well.
Robin Uthappa and Shivam Dube, 165 Robin Uthappa and Shivam Dube recently climbed to the second spot in the list of the highest CSK partnerships with 165 runs in IPL 2022.
This is what Uthappa had to say after Chennai's win, courtesy of the marathon partnership.
Uthappa: "I just allowed him Dube to get in and get set. He has been hitting the ball well, so I made sure to build a partnership with him. When Maxwell came in to bowl his third over, I felt it was the time to take him on even though it was the bigger boundary. An off-spinner bowling, so I decided to take him on. When the spinners were bowling, I tried to feed him as much strike as possible, and when the pacers were back on, I told him to give me the strike back."
"Theekshana has been bowling well, and he is growing in confidence with each and every game. It's a relief to get the points, we have been working hard. There are a lot of young faces, we have injuries, and even Deepak's not there. We have spent a lot of time together, we have gotten closer over the last few days. That was a result of staying together when we were down in the dumps."
The beginning of IPL 2022 did not prove to be ideal for Chennai Super Kings as they struggled for form in the absence of Deepak Chahar without any powerplay wickets.
What further exaggerated matters was that their star opener Ruturaj Gaikwad did not fire to begin with and the team was suffering on two counts - both in the powerplay - as they failed to cover for that later on.
