Chennai, April 8 Ravindra Jadeja starred with a miserly spell of 3-18, while Tushar Deshpande bowled good lines and lengths to pick 3-33 and Mustafizur Rahman showcased exceptional command on slower deliveries to help Chennai Super Kings restrict Kolkata Knight Riders to a below-par 137/9 at the M.A Chidambaram Stadium here on Monday.
KKR were 56/1 at the end of Power-play and were primed to get a big total. But Jadeja changed the game with his economical spell, where he maintained a stump-to-stump line and made subtle changes in pace and trajectory to rattle KKR’s big hitters. Deshpande supported him well while Mustafizur has now become the leading wicket-taker in the competition as KKR’s batting line-up couldn’t come to terms with the two-paced pitch after Power-play. With dew settling in, KKR would be hoping to get early scalps to maintain their unbeaten run.
Electing to bowl first, CSK had a great start as Deshpande got a length ball to shape away from Phil Salt, who couldn’t keep it down and slashed to backward point for a golden duck. He also made the dangerous Sunil Narine play and miss a lot in the opening over, by not giving any room and bowling majorly on his hips.
But Narine got going against Deshpande in the third over, whipping, thumping and flicking to collect two fours and a six. He then brought out the straight drive against Shardul Thakur for four and dispatched Maheesh Theekshana over long-on for six to bring up KKR’s 50. From the other end, young Angkrish Raghuvanshi played four authoritative boundaries, including launching a six over Theekshana’s head as KKR ended the Power-play at 56/1. But then came Jadeja to turn the match on its head by taking three wickets in eight balls.
On his first ball, Jadeja trapped Raghuvanshi LBW, when the batter shaped up for a reverse sweep, and missed it to be out for 24. He then had Narine miscuing to long-off and fall for 27, before returning to have Venkatesh Iyer pulling straight to mid-wicket. Ramandeep Singh was next to fall after being castled by a carrom ball from Theekshana.
With cutters ruling the roost, captain Shreyas Iyer struggled to get going despite collecting two boundaries. Rinku Singh looked scratchy and chopped onto his stumps off a wide, slower delivery from Deshpande.
Andre Russell was kept quiet by wide slower balls, mainly from Mustafizur Rahman. After carving two fours in the off-side area, he holed out to long-on for run-a-ball 10 off a fuller slow delivery from Deshpande, despite being dropped by MS Dhoni. Iyer’s struggle ended on 34 when he slogged to deep mid-wicket off a slower ball from Mustafizur, who also had Mitchell Starc pulling to deep square leg, as KKR made 38 runs in their last five overs, losing four wickets.
Brief scores:
Kolkata Knight Riders 137/9 in 20 overs (Shreyas Iyer 34, Sunil Narine 27; Ravindra Jadeja 3-18, Tushar Deshpande 3-33) against Chennai Super Kings
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