Chennai: Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) IPL season just went from bad to worse with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) demolishing them by 32 runs on a tricky surface, exposing head coach Abhishek Nayar’s poor planning and skipper Ajinkya Rahane’s archaic approach on Tuesday, April 14.
On a two-paced track, CSK, after a blazing powerplay that fetched them 72 runs, managed a decent 192 for five, which was 20 short of par but proved to be good enough to outclass KKR, who were stopped at 160 for seven in the allotted 20 overs.
Rahane’s team lost wickets in a clutch as left-arm wrist spinner Noor Ahmed (3/21 in 4 overs) wreaked havoc, blowing away the middle-order to ensure an easy win.
On a pitch where the ball gripped, Noor was more than a handful as he removed Rahane, Rinku Singh (6) and Cameron Green (0), as KKR slumped from 79 for two to 90 for six.
Left-arm spinner Akeal Hossain (1/26 in 4 overs) was also more than decent, keeping batters in check.
Rahane (28 off 22 balls) and Raghuvanshi (27 off 19 balls) adding 50 runs in just over five overs was an eyesore, as their approach was reminiscent of how batters chased this kind of target a decade ago.
Mumbai men Rahane and Raguvanshi batting in the KKR top-four has proven to be an unmitigated disaster for the Shah Rukh Khan-owned side, which has now lost four out of the first five games.
But the bulk of responsibility for KKR’s disastrous show lay in Abhishek Nayar’s doorstep.
Meanwhile, CSK are back on track with two wins.
Rahane was unhappy when asked about his powerplay batting, but his age-old weakness against slow bowlers was exploited wonderfully by CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad.
But credit should also go to pacers Anshul Kamboj and Khaleel Ahmed as they removed the two players, who could have made the chase look easy – Finn Allen (1) and Sunil Narine (24 off 17 balls).
Another couple of impactful players, Rovman Powell (31 off 22) and Ramandeep Singh (35* off 23), entered the fray quite late, and the damage was already done.
Earlier, after Sanju Samson (48 off 32 balls) and Ayush Mhatre (38 off 17 balls) took CSK’s score to 72 for 2 at the end of powerplay, off-spinner Narine (1/21 in 4 overs), slow left-armer Anukul (1/21 in 3 overs) and Varun (0/26 in 3 overs) gave only 68 runs in the 10 overs that they sent down cumulatively, while getting two wickets.
In the 14 overs post powerplay, CSK managed only 120 runs at less than nine runs per over, and it was all down to the KKR spinners.
At the back end, Kartik Tyagi (2/35 in 4 overs) bowled fast, in the late 140s, and also mixed it with pace off deliveries out of batter’s arc to make things difficult.
Dewald Brevis (41 off 29 balls) showed glimpses of his class while Sarfaraz Khan (23 off 18 balls) once again displayed his cheeky cricketing smarts in a half-century-plus stand.
At the start, Samson teed off with three boundaries, including a streaky one off Vaibhav Arora’s in his opening over.
However, it was U-19 World Cup winning captain Mhatre, who upped the ante straightaway with back-to-back sixes off Cameron Green, apart from hitting a couple of boundaries.
The standout was a Kapil Dev-style Nataraja Shot behind square. He also hit another open-chested six over mid-wicket. Mhatre’s knock gave the CSK innings the required momentum, even as Samson played second fiddle during that phase.
While his innings could be termed far from being a smooth effort, he did show his touch with one straight six off Kartik Tyagi, who later came back with a fast 148.1 click off-cutter to breach Samson’s defence.
The Chepauk track was two-paced in nature, with the odd ball gripping and coming into the bat late, and the KKR trio of Anukul, Narine and Chakravarthy found enough purchase to put brakes on run-scoring after the end of powerplay, and Tyagi complemented them brilliantly.
