Chennai Super Kings got back to winning ways after two away defeats and handed Kolkata Knight Riders their first loss of IPL 2024 by slowing them down with spin on a tacky Chepauk surface. Unlike the last two matches where none of the home spinners accounted for a wicket at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, on Monday, Ravindra Jadeja and Co were the architects of the seven-wicket victory on a typical Chepauk track that remained slow, assisted spinners and made it difficult for batters to score.
KKR captain Shreyas Iyer deconstructed the loss, saying his team couldn’t assess the conditions quickly enough as they changed “tremendously” after the first six overs.
“I personally feel we fell short in terms of assessing the wicket,” Iyer said after the match. “We were phenomenal in the powerplay but after that, we couldn’t capitalise, we lost consecutive wickets. We weren’t able to assess the conditions as quickly as possible. It completely changed after the powerplay and scoring runs off this wicket wasn’t easy.
“Obviously, they know conditions pretty well and they bowled according to their plan. It was a bit tacky, especially even when the hard-hitters came in, it wasn’t easy for them to go [big] right from the first ball. It changed tremendously after the powerplay. We were trying to construct our innings, didn’t go to plan. We take those learnings and move forward.”
After leaking 56 runs in the powerplay, CSK pulled things back thanks to Jadeja’s 3 for 18. Add Maheesh Theekshana and Rachin Ravindra into the mix, and the spinners combined to bowl nine overs for just 50 runs and four wickets to restrict KKR to a below-par 137 for 9.
“We were in a comfortable place at the beginning, we thought 160-170 would be a great score on this wicket. Even when they played against RCB, the conditions were fairly similar. So that was our plan but when you lose consecutive wickets, it’s difficult to carry forward momentum,” Iyer said.
CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, who led the chase with an unbeaten 67 off 58, felt it was a “slightly tricky” wicket and that the onus was on him to bat through to take the team home after the No. 3 Ajinkya Rahane strained his calf. It was also an important knock for Gaikwad personally, who finally contributed definitively after scores of 15, 46, 1, 26 in the previous four games.
“Bit of nostalgia for me,” Gaikwad said of batting with MS Dhoni in the final part of the chase. “My first IPL fifty, Mahi bhai was there with me to finish the match. Pretty much the same situation today. I feel with Jinx [Rahane] slightly injured, it was my role to stay till the end on a wicket which was slightly tricky. I didn’t want to put the youngsters in a pressure situation. Overall, a good game for us.
“I would still say it was a 150-160 wicket. Didn’t think it was a six-hitting pitch but definitely 160.
“I wouldn’t say mine is a slow start [he was on 9 off 11 at one stage], in T20s there are times you nick off one or two balls, sometimes you need a bit of luck to get going. Today it was perfect I could take some time a bit, maybe something for experts to talk about, with my strike rate, but still good to get a win.”
With this win, CSK have six points from five games and occupy fourth spot on the points table, while KKR are second with six points from four games. CSK will be on the road for the next couple of games before returning home for the match against Lucknow Super Giants on April 23. KKR, meanwhile, will head back to Eden Gardens for five home games in a row.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo
