A forced change of captaincy by reinstating Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the hot seat, following an elbow injury to Ruturaj Gaikwad, failed to revive Chennai Super Kings’ fortunes at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennaion Friday.
Ajinkya Rahane’s men returned to their winning ways with a comprehensive eight-wicket victory. The Kolkata Knight Riders overhauled the 104-run target with 59 balls remaining.
CSK’s 103/9 was their lowest IPL total at home. They crashed to a fifth successive defeat with three of them coming on their home turf, a first in the IPL, and are currently placed ninth on the points table.
The slow and low wicket suited the Knight Riders’ bowlers and they ran through the home team’s batting line-up. At one stage, CSK were reduced to 79/9 and it looked like they wouldn’t reach the 100-run mark but Shivam Dube’s 31 not out off 29 balls rescued them.
Sunil Narine returned best figures with 3/13 without conceding a boundary in his four overs — the 16th time in the IPL — while Varun Chakravarthy and Harshit Rana claimed two wickets each.
Flying start
The Knights were off to a flyer with Quinton de Kock and Narine adding 46 off 26 balls before Narine and Ajinkya Rahane put on 39 off 18 for the second wicket.
Narine seems to have found his touch with the bat too, his 44 off 18 balls included two fours and five sixes. If Narine can maintain the momentum with the bat, the defending champions can stay in the race for making the playoffs.
As KKR raced to 71/1 in the Powerplay overs, there was no looking back.
Spin rules
The Chepauk wicket presented the Knights with what they have been longing for at Eden Gardens. KKR brought back Moeen Ali for the match-ups against CSK’s left-handers and it worked to perfection.
His second over and the third of the innings was a wicket maiden as he removed Devon Conway (12). Thereafter there was no stopping the KKR spinners.
Varun, Narine and Moeen strangled CSK, their combined figures 12-1-55-6 enough to end the five-time champion’s hopes of making a turnaround. They avoided being all out for their lowest total (79) in IPL history but only just.
Batting woes
Lack of discipline in the CSK batters led to their doom. They hit just three boundaries after the eighth over, the next one coming in the 19th.
There was more trouble in store after the regular fall of wickets. CSK were forced to bring in Deepak Hooda as an Impact Player, accepting the risk of going in with a bowler short, but the gamble backfired.
Hooda fell for a four-ball duck and Sri Lankan slinger Matheesha Pathiranawill not be able to take part in this game.
Dhoni walked out at No. 9 only to be crowded by a slip and short leg. He had to face only Narine and Varun against whom he has a poor record.
Dhoni was dismissed for 1 off 4 balls though there was a touch of controversy to it. He reviewed the leg before decision and there seemed to be a spike as the ball passed the bat. The third umpire, Vinod Seshan, though upheld the on-field umpire’s decision but head coach Stephen Fleming was visibly unhappy.
It was left to Dube to show his mettle in the end overs. He had walked in with the score at 59/3 and faced only 13 balls but in that time, CSK had slumped to 75/8.
CSK’s plight — openers with zero confidence and a middle-order that cannot be trusted — has failed to enthuse even their most die-hard supporters.
