More than Kolkata Knight Riders, Sunday evening was about Mahendra Singh Dhoni. How else does one justify the sea of yellow that engulfed Eden Gardens.
The Knight Riders had never faced such enmity on their home turf. Almost half the stadium had stayed back close to midnight to hear Mahendra Singh Dhoni at the prize distribution ceremony in what is assumed to be his last dance at the venue. The Calcuttans possibly went a step ahead in showering their love and affection for the CSK captain.
There was no way the team could have taken a wrong step on this day. Having put up a mammoth 235/4, they restricted the Knight Riders to 186/8. From the highs of Rinku Singh’s miraculous effort in Ahmedabad only a fortnight ago, they crashed to their fourth consecutive — fifth overall — defeat.
Rinku Singh. Picture: PTI/Sanat Kr Sinha
It would be unfair to blame the batters alone, another top-order collapse notwithstanding. Frequent batting order changes, insipid bowling and unimaginative captaincy have already made Knight Riders’ playoff chances a non-starter.
Nitish Rana has been thrust into his role but has never showed the charisma to make things happen on the field and arrest the slide. But it also needs to be explored if they have enough ammunition at hand to fight the battle. Their choice of some of the players at the auction have been simply poor.
The home team were in the reckoning till Jason Roy (61 off 26 balls) and Rinku Singh (53 not out off 33 balls) stayed at the crease.
Jason Roy. Picture: PTI/Sanat Kr Sinha
The others were simply done in by the enormity of the challenge or didn’t have the stomach for a fight.
Not that the crowd minded. They had come to watch Dhoni and basked in the glory of CSK’s fifth win in seven matches.
Almost 30 minutes after most of CSK players had made their way into the ground for the warm-up session, Dhoni emerged from the dressing room. The crowd turned into a frenzy with chants of “Dhoni, Dhoni” as the CSK captain went about his drills in a nonchalant fashion.
With the CSK top-order making mincemeat of the Knight Riders attack, there was little chance Dhoni could have displayed his charisma with the bat.
Yet, the full house got a sneak peek into Dhoni’s batting once he decided to promote himself and face the two remaining balls of the innings following Ravindra Jadeja’s dismissal. As luck would have it, he batted for three balls, including a no-ball, without hitting a boundary or a six. But the spectators soaked in every bit of his presence in the middle.
They missed Dhoni’s explosive batting but Ajinkya Rahane more or less made up for it with a brilliant exhibition of strokeplay during his 71 not out off 29 balls.
Thanks to him, CSK recorded the highest total this season.
There was no slogging and Rahane displayed perfect timing and technique in his six fours and five sixes. Rahane and Shivam Dube forged a partnership of 85 in 32 balls.
This was after Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway had laid the platform.
Tie-up talk in progress
Calcutta: Chennai Super Kings may enter into a tie-up with the London-based academy of former India wicketkeeper-batsman and Bengal ex-captain Deep Dasgupta.
The matter, which is still in process, could materialise after the current edition of the IPL gets over.
“We are exploring the possibilities of a tie-up with Deep Dasgupta’s academy. We haven’t finalised all the details yet. That’s why we are yet to announce it officially,” Kasi Viswanathan, the Super Kings CEO, told The Telegraph on Sunday.
Will Mahendra Singh Dhoni be involved with the academy in any capacity? “No, MS will most likely not be a part of it,” Viswanathan said.
SAYAK BANERJEE
