Ravindra Jadeja proved why on spinning surface he is still the lethal bowler. On a surface that was typical of the one we have been used to at Chepauk in seasons past, CSK bowled first and restricted KKR to 137 for 9. This after KKR had raced to 56 for 1 in the powerplay. But as the ball got older, the CSK bowlers, led by Ravindra Jadeja who picked 3 for 18, came into their own.
CSK returned home from two defeats on the road and were welcomed by a pitch that allowed them to put on a good old spin choke through Ravindra Jadeja, who picked 3 for 18 in 4 overs. Chennai Super Kings brought an end to Kolkata Knight Riders’ early-season invincibility on an old-school Chepauk surface.
Pitch and Toss
65m and 66m square boundaries respectively, 80m down the ground. The pitch is rock hard, so the batters will have a great time here and the bowlers can expect some bounce. The spinners might extract some bounce as well. Just a couple of cracks on the surface, but overall a good batting wicket, reckons Graeme Swann.
Chennai Super Kings skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad won the toss and have opted to field made three changes as Mustafizur Rehman, Sameer Rizvi and Shardul Thakur comes in for Mukesh Chaudhary , Deepak Chahar and Matheesha Pathirana
Kolkata Knight Riders batting first did not made any changes in their playing 11.
Sunil Narine – the powerplay king as KKR gets a decent start.
Kolkata Knight Riders have been one of the PowerPlay maximisers this season. So it didn’t matter that Tushar Deshpande had Phil Salt caught at point on the first ball of the game as Sunil Narine and Angkrish Raghuvanshi threw their bats around. The first over only fetched a run and just six came off Mustafizur Rahman’s over in the second, but Narine went after Deshpande in the 19-run third over.
Shardul Thakur started off his CSK return with a loosener in the fourth over that Raghuvanshi hit for a four, and gave away 11. The two batters then hit a six each against Maheesh Theekshana. Even as Mustafizur bowled well to Narine in the sixth over for just six runs – 56/1 was the most expensive PowerPlay conceded by CSK at home this season.
After losing the toss and a wicket off the first ball of the game, KKR were propped up by Sunil Narine, their powerplay wrecker-in-chief this season. He went after Tushar Deshpande in his second over. A four through square leg, one over mid-off and then a six over deep square – Narine was up and away. Not even a shoulder injury seemed to stop him.
During his innings, Narine also went past Virat Kohli to now have the most runs in the powerplay this season – 127 at a strike rate of 201.58. He found an ally in Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who continued on from his debut innings as the duo added 56 runs off 36 balls for the second wicket.
Chepauk is a spinner’s ally again as Ravindra Jadeja slowdowns KKR charge in middle overs.
CSK had picked zero wickets via spin in the first two home games this season. Ravindra Jadeja changed that in his first (and second over) to clip KKR’s wings. Raghuvanshi looked to take him on straight away and attempted a reverse sweep on the first ball, getting trapped leg before. In the same over, Ravindra Jadeja saw the back of Narine with a full ball outside the off-stump that the left-hander went for a big hit. He ended up slicing the ball which went to Theekshana at long off.
It was one of those games where Ruturaj Gaikwad could bowl Jadeja out at once. Ravindra Jadeja picked another wicket – of Venkatesh Iyer, with an innocuous half-tracker, and finished with a spell of 3 for 18. The spell also involved 11 dots. CSK dominated the middle-overs with a spin choke, as Rachin Ravindra sneaked in an over worth four runs too. In the 11th over, when Shreyas Iyer hit a four off Ravindra Jadeja – it was the first in 34 deliveries. KKR lost their way after the PowerPlay, getting 53/4 in the next 10 overs.
The CSK spinners had not picked up a single wicket at Chepauk in the first two matches there in IPL 2024. And Ravindra Jadeja seemed to take it personally. He picked up three wickets in his first eight balls of the match, putting a big dent in the KKR middle order.
CSK tame Russell at the death to restrict KKR to 137 for 9.
Once 15 overs were done, Gaikwad got the fast bowlers into play, and they relied more on the cutters. Deshpande had Rinku Singh chopping one back onto his stumps before Mustafizur Rahman took over. He might have been coming off a long run-up but got slower cutters in, which would have made any slow left-arm orthodox spinner proud.
He delivered a stellar final over picking up two wickets and conceding just two runs. While Deshpande finished with 3 for 33 off his four overs, Mustafizur picked 2 for 22, and became the highest wicket-taker in the competition. Sixteen of the 24 balls delivered by the duo in the last four overs were cutters, and KKR had no clue.
Mustafizur came out on top in the 18th over, with four dots and just one four. One of the dots was even a free hit delivery. Deshpande went round the stumps to bowl with a similar angle to Mustafizur and packed the off-side fence, but Russell pierced that for a four first ball. On the next, Deshpande went short and Russell lined up to clear the long-on fence but failed to clear Daryl Mitchell. This was Deshpande’s third wicket of the game. Mustafizur then bowled an excellent final over, picking two wickets and restricting KKR to 137 for 9.
Ruturaj Gaikwad’s welcome return to form
The new CSK captain shrugged off his underwhelming start to the season and found his timing in the PowerPlay. He drove and cut through covers and point to hit three fours of Anukul Roy before hitting a square drive off Vaibhav Arora, who dismissed Rachin Ravindra in his previous over. Gaikwad’s flurry of boundaries took CSK to 52/1 in 6 overs.
It hasn’t been the strongest of starts for Gaikwad in IPL 2024. Coming into the game, he had only managed 88 runs in four innings, averaging 22 in the tournament. But with a modest target in front of him, he bedded in for the long haul. After a watchful first over, he got going with a ramp off Vaibhav Arora and moved from 4 off 9 to 32 off 23 by the end of the powerplay.
The early impetus was provided by Rachin Ravindra who went after Mitchell Starc, but once he fell, Gaikwad made sure to keep the things moving forward. With Ajinkya Rahane struggling with a calf strain, he had additional responsibility and took up the role well. Gaikwad took on the left-arm spin of Anukul Roy, backing away first ball of the fifth over and creaming him through covers. He repeated those shots twice over before smashing Vaibhav Arora for two back-to-back fours. CSK had raced to 52 for 1 at the end of the powerplay.
CSK make it 3/3 at home
Gaikwad got excellent support from Mitchell and Dube in helping CSK get over the line. Mitchell, promoted up the order to No. 3, hit his straps by thumping Sunil Narine for a six and four immediately after the powerplay. The duo did not always keep the boundaries flowing but they kept the scoreboard ticking. In the 36 balls between overs six to 12, they scored 44 runs – 17 singles, five doubles, two fours and one six – and that was all CSK needed as the asking run rate crept below the six an over mark.
Once Mitchell fell, it was the Dube show as he continued his merry run in IPL 2024. He hammered Varun Chakravarthy for back-to-back sixes and then muscled Arora for another one over deep midwicket. Dube is the current leading run-scorer for CSK this season and has a strike rate of 193.93 against all spinners. On Monday, he only enhanced his credentials. It didn’t take long for CSK to finish off the chase after Dube fell, wrapping up the game in 17.4 overs.
Daryl Mitchell took down Sunil Narine in his first over but Varun Chakravarthy bowled three good overs for just 13 runs. Andre Russell also started well on the sticky surface, only for Ruturaj to swivel-pull him for a four in his first over. Narine too bounced back quickly from a 14-run first over to give away just 10 in his next two and dismiss Mitchell.
Gaikwad kept his drives coming and posted his best score at the venue – 67* off 58. Shivam Dube meanwhile, arrived and pulled Mitchell Starc for a four and then slammed Varun Chakravarthy for two sixes to fast-track CSK’s win. Dube’s dismissal in the 17th over meant the Chepauk crowd got the first glimpse of MS Dhoni batting at CSK’s home ground. He came to the middle with just 3 to get and saw it through with his successor in company in the 18th over.
Presentations and Road Ahead.
Shreyas Iyer the loosing captain said : It’s deafening out here, but I’ll try to express. We got a phenomenal start in the powerplay, but we lost consecutive wickets. We weren’t able to assess the conditions quickly after the powerplay, scoring runs wasn’t easy. They (CSK) know the conditions pretty well, they bowled according to their plans.
Wasn’t easy (for the new batters) to go after them from the first ball. We were trying to construct the innings, but it didn’t fall in place according to the plan.
The wicket changed after the powerplay. We were in a comfortable place and we thought 160-170 was a good score, but we lost momentum. We have to go back to the drawing board and got to learn from that. I am glad this happened at the start of the tournament. When we go back, we know our home conditions pretty well. We need to analyze the situations and need to make the best use of it.
Ruturaj Gaikwad the winning skipper said : Little nostalgic for me. Remember my first fifty in IPL, Mahi bhai was with me and we finished the match in same situation. With Jinks slightly injured, I felt it was my responsibility to stay till the end on a wicket which was slightly tricky. Was a 150-160 wicket – if you rotate a little bit and look for boundaries. Wasn’t a six-hitting pitch. It is what we’ve been following through the years. Jaddu always comes after powerplay.
With this team I don’t need to tell things to anyone. Everyone is in great headspace. You have Mahi bhai still there, you have Fleming still there. I wouldn’t say slow start (for him in this tournament). In T20 there are times when you nick off, you get those one-two balls. Sometimes you need little bit of luck to get going. And I feel today it was perfect where I could take my time little bit – something to talk for experts after the game about my strike rate. Good to get the win.
Ravindra Jadeja Player of the Match for his 3 wickets said : Always enjoy my bowling on these kind of tracks. Was just looking to bowl in good areas. I’ve practiced a lot here – if you bowl in good areas, it helps you. Takes time for visiting team to settle down and plan something. Difficult for them to come here and identify the surface. We know the conditions very well.
Don’t they just love playing at Chepauk. Especially when the pitch is like the one we saw today, with the ball holding and gripping. The chase was never a problem with CSK knowing that they could afford to take their time as the target wasn’t too high. It was a luxury KKR didn’t have because they had to assess the conditions on the go, without knowing what total would be enough.
Unlike the previous couple of games here, this wasn’t a 180-200 pitch, and ball-striking wasn’t easy. Rather, the situation and the conditions were built perfectly for someone like Ruturaj Gaikwad who could take his time and rely on timing to do the work. There was dew on the outfield too, making it all the more easier for the hosts who cruised home without really breaking a sweat as they ended KKR’s unbeaten run in this tournament.
CSK at Chepauk are just a different beast. Not for nothing do they have the best home record in the IPL. Today the toss also played a crucial role with dew being a factor and batting getting easier in the second half, and CSK had the luxury of knowing what their target was. So KKR’s unbeaten run in this tournament comes to an end.