Kolkata Knight Riders’ bowlers fared better at the Chepauk on Tuesday. Yet, the Knights ended on the losing side due to inept batting, as the Chennai Super Kings beat them comfortably by 32 runs.
For the Knight Riders, the defeat could have been more embarrassing if not for the 63-run seventh-wicket stand between Rovman Powell and Ramandeep Singh, which helped the bottom-placed side labour to 160/7 in response to the Super Kings’ 192/5.
The KKR bowlers earlier did a good job to keep the Super Kings away from the 200-mark even after the home team, put into bat, were solidly placed at 72/2 after Powerplay, with Sanju Samson at the crease. The Chepauk surface wasn’t quite a belter and had something in it for the spinners in particular, and KKR’s spin trio of Anukul Roy, Sunil Narine and comeback man Varun Chakravarthy were successful in applying the brakes on the CSK scoring.
Pacer Kartik Tyagi also did a fine job, accounting for Samson and Dewald Brevis, who too was well set before departing in the 18th over.
Though this Chepauk pitch was a tad sluggish, there was dew to make the bowlers’ task slightly tougher. The KKR batters, however, could barely take any advantage of the dew, or capitalise after two easy catches were dropped to let Narine and Ajinkya Rahane off. The CSK spinners, though, were a notch better than their counterparts.
CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad had another poor outing with the bat, but in leading his team, he did well to bring in left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein only after Narine, back to opening the innings, was dismissed. Akeal, who gave away only 26 off his four overs, had Angkrish Raghuvanshi holing out at the deep after he and Rahane put up some resistance.
Thereafter, Afghan chinaman bowler Noor Ahmad struck thrice in back-to-back overs, including dismissing Rahane and Cameron Green off successive deliveries, reducing KKR to 90/6 in the 13th over. That was practically the game for the Super Kings.
Wrong batting order
Promoting Narine as an opener was a positive move, although he couldn’t contribute more than 24 off 17. But the Knights erred in sending Green at No.6 when he is not comfortable against spin.
Agreed, he hasn’t done too well at No.3 either, but on this occasion, KKR needed someone to force the issue in the Powerplay, especially after Impact Player Finn Allen
departed early. The strike rate of captain Rahane, who batted at No.3, was again
disappointing. So was that of Raghuvanshi.
Besides, when Green isn’t doing too well, wouldn’t it have been more appropriate to send Powell ahead of the Australian all-rounder? Powell is clearly better in these conditions than Green.
It’s also high time head coach Abhishek Nayar has a one-on-one discussion with vice-captain Rinku Singh, who’s looking average with each game.
Combination tweak
Still winless after five matches, the Knights will see a playoffs spot further distancing away from them if they don’t win against Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad on Friday. Will KKR be tweaking their combination against the Titans?
“Yes, we’ll have to sit in the dressing room, think about the combinations and if we’ll have to make any changes. If the results are not going your way, then you’ll have to think about the combination,” Rahane said.