Two skippers who made their debut – Ravindra Jadeja and Shreyas Iyer – for their respective sides saw extreme results as Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) avenged their 2021 season final defeat against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday.
CSK had got off to a bad start after they were asked to bat first. The side lost quick wickets and only Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s unbeaten half-century proved to be Chennai’s saving grace.
For KKR, all the batsmen scored with veteran batter Ajinkya Rahane being the highest scorer with 44 runs. Venkatesh Iyer (16), Nitish Rana (21), Sam Billings (25) all helped reach the 131 runs target as they won by 6 wickets.
Skipper Shreyas Iyer (20*) and keeper Sheldon Jackson (3*) were the batters who made sure to finish the game in 18.3 overs. Talking about CSK’s bowling department, Dwayne Bravo was the pick of the bowler as he send back three KKR batters. He even equalled the tally of the most wickets in the history of IPL.
Most wickets in IPL:
170 L Malinga/ D Bravo
166 A Mishra
157 P Chawla
150 Harbhajan
Earlier, Dhoni scored 50, while CSK skipper Jadeja scored 26* after they faced the early loss of wickets. The Chennai outfit had a horrible start as opener Ruturaj Gaikwad was sent back to the dugout on the third delivery of the game by Umesh Yadav for a duck. Devon Conway soon followed and was then joined by Robin Uthappa, leaving the team’s total at 28/2, in 5 overs.
Uthappa tried to anchor the innings with Ambati Rayudu but had to depart after scoring 28 runs, as he got caught by Sheldon Jackson on Varun Chakaravarthy’s delivery. Following Uthappa’s dismissal, Rayudu got run out, which was then followed by Shivam Dube`s wicket by Andre Russell, with the team`s total at 61/5.
Later, Jadeja and Dhoni joined hands and the duo ensured that there was no further damage in their team`s batting line-up. They played a quick partnership of 70 runs and brought CSK to the total of 131/5 in 20 overs.
Captaincy change to be blamed?
Surely, a lot will be spoken about the captaincy of Jadeja, especially as the all-rounder has to fill the shoes of MS Dhoni. Many netizens had reacted especially after CSK had lost quick wickets.
(Inputs from ANI)
