Calcutta: Chennai Super Kings went back to playing on a typically slow Chepauk wicket, the key to much of their IPL success over the years, and it produced the desired result as they returned to winning ways with a comfortable seven-wicket victory over the Kolkata Knight Riders on Monday.
Ravindra Jadeja (3/18) was well and truly the pick of the Super Kings bowlers as his strikes after the Powerplay broke the back of the Knight Riders’ batting. But credit also needs to be given to quicks Tushar Deshpande (3/33) and comeback man Mustafizur Rahman (2/22), who practically gave nothing away in those death overs as the Knights could manage just 137/9.
Captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, not at his sharpest in the previous games, then showed how to pace and compile an innings on such a surface, scoring a superb 67 not out off 58 balls.
Chennai Super Kings' captain Ruturaj Gaikwad en route to his unbeaten 67 PTI
The in-form Shivam Dube (28 off 18 balls) also unleashed his big hits to quicken CSK’s march to victory before Gaikwad and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (1 not out off 3 balls) — coming in at No.5 much to the delight of the Chepauk crowd — took their team home with 14 balls remaining.
CSK are fourth in the standings with six points while KKR remain at No.2, following their first loss in four games this season.
On such a pitch, proper application was a requisite for the batters, which the Knights couldn’t come up with.
Also, it wouldn’t have been unwise had KKR sent the much more talented Rinku Singh ahead in the order, following the fall of the fourth wicket.
Given the conditions, it was really tough for the batsmen to start smashing from the onset. Not looking comfortable, Rinku was eventually undone by a slow and wide one from Deshpande. When Andre Russell came in, he hardly had any time to get his eye in before Mustafizur’s cutters made him look clueless.
The actual hero was Jadeja, who went into this game wicketless at the Chepauk this season. Sunil Narine, despite a bit of discomfort in his left shoulder, and Angkrish Raghuvanshi looked solid during their 56-run partnership for the second wicket.
But when it mattered, Jadeja struck, trapping Raghuvanshi, who tried a reverse-hit, lbw. In the same over, Jadeja got the ball to drift a little and pitched it away from Narine’s arc, and the Knights’ batter perished at the deep. Jadeja took his third when Venkatesh Iyer made a mess of a half-tracker.