CSK Clinches 7 Wickets Victory Over KKR: Jadeja’s Brilliance and Gaikwad’s Form Shine
At Chepauk, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) secured a significant victory over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in IPL 2024.
Ravindra Jadeja’s stellar performance and Ruturaj Gaikwad’s comeback to form were the highlights of the game.
Kolkata Knight Riders 137 for 9 (Iyer 34, Jadeja 3-18, Deshpande 3-33, Mustafizur 2-22) were defeated by Chennai Super Kings 141 for 3 (Gaikwad 67, Arora 2-28) by seven wickets.
Super Kings gave Knight Riders their first IPL 2024 defeat on a track akin to those we’ve seen in Chepauk in previous seasons.
Chennai Super Kings came home and to winning ways after suffering two straight losses away from home, handing Kolkata Knight Riders their first IPL 2024 setback.
With the ball on a surface similar to the one we saw at Chepauk in previous seasons, CSK took the opener’s wicket and held KKR to 137 for 9. This came after the powerplay saw KKR surge to 56 for 1. However, the CSK bowlers, especially Ravindra Jadeja (3 for 18), came into their own as the ball grew older.
Ruturaj Gaikwad regained form in the chase, guiding the innings with an undefeated 67 off 58 balls to get CSK across the finish line with seven wickets and 14 balls remaining. Together with Daryl Mitchell (25 off 19), he scored 70 off 55 balls before Shivam Dube entered and hit 28 off 18 to pull CSK closer.
MS Dhoni entered the game with three to win, triggering chaos in the Chepauk stands. However, it was Gaikwad who, appropriately, brought the pursuit to a close by smashing Anukul Roy through barriers.
Ruturaj’s Return To Form
Gaikwad hasn’t had the best of starts in the 2024 Indian Premier League. He had only scored 88 runs in four innings going into the game, with an average of 22 during the tournament. But he settled in for the long haul, with a modest aim in front of him. He began with a ramp off Vaibhav Arora after a cautious first over, and by the end of the powerplay, he had gone from 4 off 9 to 32 off 23.
Rachin Ravindra gave the initial push as he pursued Mitchell Starc, but Gaikwad made sure to keep things going after he was knocked out. He had more responsibility because Ajinkya Rahane was dealing with a calf problem, and he performed admirably in that situation.
Anukul Roy’s left-arm spin was matched by Gaikwad, who creamed Roy through covers after backing away the opening ball of the fifth over. He made two more copies of those shots before hitting Vaibhav Arora for two consecutive fours. As the powerplay came to a close, CSK had rushed to 52 for 1.
CSK Continued Their Dominance At Home
Mitchell and Dube provided Gaikwad with outstanding support in getting CSK over the finish line. After being moved up to No. 3, Mitchell showed off his skills by hitting Sunil Narine for a six and four just after the powerplay. Although they didn’t always maintain the bounds, the pair managed to keep the scoreboard moving. They scored 44 runs in the 36 balls between overs six and twelve, comprising 17 singles, five doubles, two fours, and one six. That was all CSK needed, since the asking run rate gradually dropped below six runs per over.
After Mitchell was knocked out, Dube put on quite the show in the IPL 2024. After hitting two sixes in a row off Varun Chakravarthy, he bullied Arora for another over deep midwicket. This season, Dube has been CSK’s top run scorer with a 193.93 strike rate against all spinners. He just improved his credentials on Monday. After Dube was dismissed, it did not take long for CSK to complete the chase, winning the match in 17.4 overs.
Sunil Narine Show In The Powerplay
Sunil Narine, their go-to man for wrecking havoc in the powerplay this season, held KKR up after they lost the toss and a wicket off the opening ball of the match. In his next over, he targeted Tushar Deshpande. Narine was up and away with a four through square leg, one over mid-off, and a six over deep square. Even a shoulder ailment didn’t seem to deter him.
With 127 runs this season with a strike rate of 201.58, Narine also passed Virat Kohli during his inning to hold the record for most runs scored in the powerplay. With Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who carried over from his opening innings, he found an ally. Together, they scored 56 runs off of 36 balls for the second wicket.
Ravindra Jadeja Turned The Match
In the first two IPL 2024 matches played in Chepauk, the CSK spinners had failed to claim a single wicket. Jadeja appeared to take it personally as well. In his first eight balls of the game, he took three wickets, severely hurting the middle order of the KKR.
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Attempting a reverse sweep, he first sent back Raghuvanshi, who erred and was caught squarely in front. Then, with the batter hitting a length ball straight to long-off, he dismissed Narine for the fourth time in five T20 innings. The third person Jadeja fell victim to was Venkatesh Iyer, who holed out to deep midwicket, with Mitchell making a wonderful catch by diving forward.
Jadeja’s usual strategy in these circumstances is to be as precise as she can. It was here that he realized he needed to do one more thing. not completely filled. Allow the inherent diversity presented in this pitch to take its course.
KKR only managed 43 in the following nine overs, losing four wickets, after reaching 56 in the opening six overs.
CSK Pacers Controlled The Back End
After the first fifteen overs, Gaikwad brought on the fast bowlers and started to rely more on the cutters. Before Mustafizur Rahman came over, Deshpande had Rinku Singh slicing one back onto his stumps. Even though he had just finished a lengthy run-up, he managed to insert slower cutters that would have pleased any slow left-arm conventional spinner.
In his penultimate over, he picked up two wickets while allowing just two runs to be scored. Deshpande finished with 3 for 33 from his four overs, while Mustafizur took 2 for 22, making him the competition’s leading wicket-taker. In the final four overs, the pair delivered sixteen cutters out of a possible twenty-four, and KKR had no idea.
Iyer On KKR’s Loss Against CSK
Despite the fact that his half-century “may be something for experts to talk about, with my strike rate,” CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad is pleased to finish the job on the “slightly tricky” track.
After two away losses, Chennai Super Kings returned to winning ways by slowing down the Kolkata Knight Riders with spin on a tacky Chepauk pitch, resulting in the team’s first IPL 2024 loss. On Monday, at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Ravindra Jadeja and company engineered a seven-wicket victory on a typical Chepauk track that remained slow, aided spinners, and made it difficult for batters to score. This was in contrast to the previous two matches, where none of the home spinners claimed a wicket.
In his analysis of the defeat, KKR captain Shreyas Iyer said that his team failed to react fast enough to the conditions, which he described as changing “tremendously” after the first six overs.
After the game, Iyer remarked, “I personally feel we fell short in terms of assessing the wicket.” “We were excellent during the powerplay, but we were unable to capitalize and lost wickets one after the other. We were unable to evaluate the situation as soon as we would have liked. After the powerplay, everything shifted drastically, and it was difficult to score runs off this wicket.
“They obviously have a good understanding of the conditions and bowled in accordance with their strategy. It was a little cheesy, especially when the hard-hitters started to come in; they found it difficult to get runs off the first ball. It was very different following the powerplay. Our plan to build our innings didn’t work out as expected. We proceed after applying such lessons.”
CSK recovered after giving up 56 runs in the powerplay, largely because of Jadeja’s 3 for 18. When Maheesh Theekshana and Rachin Ravindra were added to the mix, the spinners bowled together for just fifty runs and four wickets in nine overs, which limited KKR to a disappointing 137 for nine.
“At first, we were in a good position and believed that 160–170 would be a fantastic score on this track. Even during their match against RCB, the circumstances were comparatively comparable. That was our strategy, but it’s hard to maintain momentum when you lose wickets one after the other,” Iyer said.
After No. 3 Ajinkya Rahane injured his calf, CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, who spearheaded the chase with an undefeated 67 off 58, thought it was a “slightly tricky” pitch and that it was his responsibility to bat through to take the team home. It was also a significant setback for Gaikwad, who after scoring 15, 46, 1, and 26 in the preceding four games, finally made a significant contribution.
“It brings back some memories for me,” Gaikwad remarked of his final-inning batting partnership with MS Dhoni. “Mahi bhai supported me throughout the entire match during my first IPL fifty. Basically the same circumstances exist now. Since Jinx [Rahane] was a little injured, I felt that it was my responsibility to stick with a wicket that was a little tricky till the very finish. I didn’t want to place the kids under any duress. We felt the game was solid overall.
“I continue to believe that it was a 150–160 wicket. Thought that was a 160 pitch, not a six-hitting one.
“In T20s, there are moments when you nip off one or two balls, and other times you need a little bit of luck to get going. I wouldn’t say mine is a slow start [he was on 9 off 11 at one point]. Everything went well today. With my strike rate, I could have used a little more time, but it was still fantastic to win.”
With this victory, CSK moves up to fourth place on the points table with six points from five games, while KKR is in second place with six points from four games. The next several games for CSK will be played away from home, and on April 23, they will host Lucknow Super Giants. For five straight home games, KKR will return to Eden Gardens.
