Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) rode the shifting conditions at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday night with a sensible approach to pinch a six-wicket victory and delay Chennai Super Kings’ entry into the play-off stage of the Tata Indian Premier League. The left-handed duo of Nitish Rana, the captain, and Rinku Singh showed wise heads in a match-winning stand during the chase of 145.
It must be said that unlike in the first half of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) innings, the track rewarded batters who wore patience beneath their sweaty shirts. Clearly, when he won the toss and opted to bat, MS Dhoni expected the strip to get worse. On the contrary, the pitch firmed up and challenged the bats less, though it still needed a level-headed approach. Here are our takeaways from the game.
Nitish, Rinku prepared for every challenge
It was a night when the left-hand bats were prepared for every challenge that Dhoni offered them in his team’s final league game at home this season. Rana (57 not out, 44 balls, six fours, one six) and Rinku (54, 43 balls, four fours, three sixes) adopted a mature approach, nibbling away at the target and punishing errors of width and length by the home bowlers.
When the two came together, Dhoni got Moeen Ali and Maheesh Theekshana, his off-spinners, to bowl in tandem, but he quickly fell back on Matheesha Pathirana to try and break the fourth-wicket partnership midway through Kolkata’s chase. His bowlers and he kept trying without success until Moeen ran out Rinku Singh after they had added 99 off 76 balls.
Dropped catch favours Rana
To be sure, Kolkata did not complain about the catch that Pathirana dropped off Rana when he was batting on 18. Pathirana ran in from deep square leg to get his hands to it despite misjudging the arc of the ball when Rana top-edged a sweep off Moeen. But the ball tumbled out of his hands when he landed on the turf.
Incisive Chahar lands early blows
When Kolkata began their chase, it was imperative that the openers survive the threat posed by the incisive Deepak Chahar before facing the challenge of the home spinners. Chahar claimed a wicket in each of his first three overs to reduce Kolkata to 33 for 3 in 4.3 overs.
Even the uncannily accurate Chahar will agree that it was good to be bowling to a field set by the redoubtable Dhoni. Each of the top three batters fell to catches that did not test the fielders much. Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s ego got the better of him as he square-drove a widish delivery to the man on the point fence, while Venkatesh Iyer and Jason Roy offered short third man catching practice.
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KKR spin twins weave a web
Earlier, Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine placed hurdles for Chennai Super Kings, spinning a web when the pitch encouraged them by letting the ball grip the turf. They claimed four wickets between them, conceding just 51 runs in their quota of eight overs. Suyash Sharma, the leg-spinner, contributed three overs to feed Chennai a diet that it usually serves visiting teams.
Called to action as early as in the fourth over, Chakravarthy struck paydirt with his third delivery, inducing Ruturaj Gaikwad to slog a leg-break. The ball took the leading edge and flew to short third man. He returned after a couple of overs to tempt Ajinkya Rahane to hole out to long-off.
The spinners piled immense pressure on the Chennai bats by denying them boundary balls. Narine, with just one wicket in the last nine games, came into his own by castling Ambati Rayudu and Moeen in the 11th over of the innings. There was to be no escaping the clutches of the Knight Riders after that.
Dube gives CSK a competitive score
Of course, Shivam Dube (48 not out, 34 balls, one four, three sixes), the left-hand bat, gave Chennai the runs that were the difference between a low score and a competitive one. Walking in at the fall of Devon Conway’s wicket, with the score at 66 for 3 in just under 10 overs, he teamed up with Ravindra Jadeja (20, 24 balls) in a critical 68-run stand.
Dhoni’s last league game at Chepauk?
The home crowd had expected to cheer a win in Dhoni’s final league appearance (?) at Chepauk. They went home with the belief that they may get another chance to cheer him this season, with the Qualifier 1 and Eliminator due to be held at the venue.
The result kept Chennai in second place in the table with 15 points. They have one regular-season game left to play. Kolkata stayed afloat with 12 points from 13 games. They will hope for a series of results that can see the side magically sneak in ahead of Lucknow Super Giants, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings.