Kolkata Knight Riders’ IPL season just went from bad to worse with Chennai Super Kings demolishing them by 32 runs on a tricky surface, exposing head coach Abhishek Nayar’s poor planning and skipper Ajinkya Rahane’s archaic approach in Chennai on Tuesday.
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.
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.
