CHENNAI:
Ravindra Jadeja
had gone wicketless in Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) first two home matches of the Indian Premier League (IPL) this season. During the comprehensive victory over Gujarat Titans at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here a few weeks ago, left-arm spinner Jadeja did not even complete his full quota, sending down only two overs. But on Monday, the 35-year-old was back to his menacing best at Chepauk as he bamboozled the Kolkata Knight Riders batters to steer the hosts to a business-like seven-wicket win.
Showing the capacity crowd why he is CSK’s go-to bowler in the middle overs, Jadeja returned match-winning figures of 3-18, with his efficient performance helping the home team to restrict the visitors to a below-par score of 137-9.
The chase was a walk in the park for Super Kings, who got the job done with 14 balls to spare as Knight Riders tasted their first defeat of the season. Skipper and opener Ruturaj Gaikwad (67 not out off 58 balls, 9x4) saw his side through, gaining much-needed confidence by raising his first half-century of the season.
After displaying positive intent in the powerplay, including hitting three fours in left-arm tweaker Anukul Roy’s first over – Ruturaj chose to play the patient game in the 7- to 15-over period. Shivam Dube (28 off 18 balls, 1x4, 3x6) took CSK close to the target with a cameo that included three sixes and
MS Dhoni brought the roof down by walking out to bat at the venue for the first time this campaign.
But the day belonged to Jadeja.
During his magical middle-overs effort, Jadeja accounted for Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Sunil Narine and Venkatesh Iyer. In his first over – seventh of the innings – the left-arm spinner inflicted a double blow on KKR, after the tourists sent shivers down CSK’s spine for a brief period.
Raghuvanshi (24) committed harakiri as he opted for a reverse hit off Jadeja’s first ball, only to be trapped LBW. Four balls later, Narine (27) found Maheesh Theekshana in the long-off region. In the ninth over, Venkatesh Iyer’s painful stay in the middle came to an end when Daryl Mitchell provided Jadeja a superb assist with a diving catch at deep midwicket.
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Pacer Tushar Deshpande (3-33 off 4 overs), was equally impressive. After removing Phil Salt off the very first ball of the match, Deshpande returned in the death overs to send dangermen Rinku Singh and Andre Russell back to the pavilion.
Narine and Raghuvanshi had kept Kolkata in the contest with a brisk 56-run partnership for the second wicket, the highest of the innings. But a collapse followed, with KKR going from 56-1 to 64-4 in the span of three overs.
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