CSK spinners spins a web around KKR batsmen on their way to a facile win
CSK – 192/5 (Sanju Samson 48 off 32) beat KKR – 160/7 (Noor Ahmad 21/3) by 32 runs
Man of the Match: Noor Ahmad
The match between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) was one in which two teams at the bottom of the table were desperate to get their IPL season going. At the end, CSK used their old-fashioned template of putting up a good enough total for their spinners to put up an almighty choke on their opponents. For KKR, another disappointing loss left them the only team still winless in the tournament.
Steady start by the CSK openers
KKR won the toss and elected to field first. Samson started with a flurry of boundaries off Vaibhav Arora, who started by bowling too short. Once he got his length right, KKR realised that there was ample swing on offer, and consequently, CSK openers tightened up their game. With two right-handed batsmen at the crease, left-arm spinner Anukul Roy was brought into the attack, and he promptly delivered. Rituraj’s poor series with the bat got worse as he slog swept directly to Powell for a simple catch.
Green, who opened the bowling, had bowled a decent first over and continued with his second. Ayush Mhatre, the new batsman, promptly got hold of his bowling and struck a 21-run over. Full balls were hit for fours in extra cover and over point region, and short balls were smacked over backward square leg and mid-wicket. Last over of the powerplay, Arora tried bowling full and got hit for two fours on mid-wicket and extra cover. A shorter ball stood up and was clubbed straight at long off. But Arora had the last laugh in that over with a better directed shorter ball at the head, as Mhatre could not control his pull and skied to deep midwicket where Ramandeep took a smart catch. Mhatre’s commanding 38 off 17 balls ensured that CSK had an adequate powerplay score of 72/2.
KKR spinners tie down the batsmen
KKR has two of the best mystery spinners in the business, and both Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy immediately got into action. They bowled stump to stump and did not allow the batsmen to free their arms, and the next five overs brought them only 33 runs. Samson was looking dangerous and seemed to be waiting for the right match-up to break free. He played an almost tennis-like double-handed forehand to a Kartik Tyagi short ball to hit it for a six straight over long off. It was an extraordinary shot and had everybody amazed, but the very next ball was castled by a fast 148.1 kph ball homing straight into the stumps. CSK seemed to have erred in sending Sarfaraz next instead of Dube. A left-right combination, along with Dube’s ability for big hits against spinners, would have been useful in such a situation. Brevis got in a good 15-run over against Varun’s bowling, but otherwise, both batsmen were struggling to up the ante, and overs were running out.
KKR miscalculated in not bowling out their spinners
The Brevis over against Varun appeared to spook them into not completing the overs of Varun and Anukul Roy, who had bowled beautifully so far. The Chennai pitch aided swing bowling in the initial period, but helped the spinners thereafter. Despite this, Arora was brought in to bowl the 16th over and conceded 20 runs. Next, over Sarfaraz went for a huge slog against Narine and got bowled for an unconvincing 23 off 18 balls. Narine finished at 21/1 off 4 overs. Tyagi, who had a good match and bowled fast and furious, got Brevis caught to a slower ball at short third man for 41 off 29 balls. In the end, Chennai huffed and puffed and reached 192/5.
KKR gets bogged down
KKR sent in Narine along with Fin Allen as the openers to disrupt the CSK plan to bowl Akeil Hosein, a left-arm spinner, known to be a powerplay specialist. This resulted in Khaleel and Kamboj opening with the new ball. Which was not a bad thing, as both found good swing with the new ball. First over of Kamboj, Allen tried an ambitious hoick towards long on and only managed to get a massive leading edge straight up to Dube at cover, completely losing his shape. With Tim Seifert sitting on the bench, it is difficult to see how Allen would continue in the playing 11. Kamboj should have had another wicket when Narine hit a low full toss straight to mid-off, and Rituraj dropped the simplest of catches. However, Narine could not make the drop count and was dismissed next over off Khaleel. With a powerplay score of 36/2, KKR were already quite far behind in the match. In between, Gurjapneet Singh was given an over and was taken for 19 runs by Rahane and Raghuvanshi. Score was 77/2 at the end of 9 overs, and it was as good as it ever got for KKR.
Hosein and Noor tighten the screws
The spinners were introduced in the attack at an ideal time, with batsmen struggling and the required run rate ballooning up, and they thoroughly utilised it. Hosein was very good and could have had an additional two wickets to show for his efforts had the CSK fielders not had a nightmare time on the field on this night. Brevis, normally a brilliant fielder, shelled a running catch near the boundary, and to rub salt to wounds, palmed it over the boundary for a six. Next, Sarfaraz dropped Rahane at midwicket off Hosein’s bowling. However, he did get a solitary wicket of Raghuvanshi caught at long on for an impressive 26/1 off 4 overs.
Noor Ahmad too ran rings around the KKR batters, and they never seemed to have a clue as to how to play him. Googly to Rahane was mistimed badly to extra cover, and the next ball, Green was done in completely by the leg spinner to get bowled. Rinku Singh, going through a horrible patch of form, holed out to long on after a painful innings.
Ramandeep Singh and Powell played handy knocks, but with 86 runs required in 30 balls with four wickets in hand, even with dew setting in, it was never really close. In the end, each of them ended up with a couple of good-looking 30s.
Rahane, the KKR captain, a very calm and composed man, has spoken about keeping belief and staying positive, but KKR, with no wins yet this season, would need to look deep and maybe need to press the panic button after all.