KKR stay alive after spinners, Rinku Singh & Nitish Rana breach MS Dhoni’s Chepauk den

SYNOPSIS: On the hottest day so far this summer in Chennai, MS Dhoni chose to bat first overlooking the dew factor. It meant the pitch behaved in contrasting ways, as Super Kings posted only 144/6 when it remained slow, before Kolkata made short work of the target.
As early as the toss, MS Dhoni hinted how Chennai Super Kings will have to reassess conditions after the Powerplay, when the shine goes off the ball, to decide what will be a par total. Winning the toss, Dhoni chose to bat first on a pitch that he thought would get slower, provided there was no dew in the second half of the match. They had benefitted from one such bold call during their last outing here against Delhi Capitals last Wednesday. However, it is a bit like walking into the unknown, for the onset of dew could take the slowness of the pitch away and make it easier for the team batting second.
And playing on the pitch that was used for the low-scoring match against Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders – with three mystery spinners in their ranks – were always going to be in the game. Irrespective of their season blowing hot and cold, Kolkata’s spinners – especially Varun Chakravarthy and Suyash Sharma – have been carrying them, even compensating for Sunil Narine’s poor returns with the ball. This was the sort of pitch that Kolkata would prefer playing on day-in and day-out, where the ball not only grips and turns, but the slowness of the surface makes it challenging for batsmen to work the ball around. Varun started off removing Ruturaj Gaikwad in the fourth over, but Chennai lost their way in the 10th and 11th overs. Having gone four successive overs without a boundary, Devon Conway fell in the 10th to Shardul Thakur and in the next, Narine – who had just one wicket in his last nine matches – accounted for the struggling duo of Ambati Rayudu and Moeen Ali. At 72/5 after 11 overs, any hope of Super Kings’ resurrection was dependent on Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja and Dhoni.

.@rinkusingh235 once again demonstrated confidence with the bat & bagged the Player of the Match award 👏🏻@KKRiders clinched a 6-wicket win in Chennai 👌🏻👌🏻
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/d7m0BcEtvi #TATAIPL | #CSKvKKR pic.twitter.com/o2pWQBhMYT
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 14, 2023
Jadeja’s no show
When he came on the IPL scene, fresh after winning the Under-19 World Cup, Jadeja’s all-round prowess, especially the cameos he had with the bat for Rajasthan Royals, prompted Shane Warne to give him the tag of a Rockstar. This has been a strange season for Jadeja with the willow, as he hasn’t looked the sort of batsman who was scoring runs with ease when the Super Kings last won the title in 2021. Having been handed a finisher’s role to make up for the dwindling finishing touch of Dhoni, it is safe to say it is not working for Jadeja and Chennai. With very limited ability to clear boundaries, Jadeja is largely dependent on bowlers erring in their plans rather than him forcing them to bowl to his strengths. Jadeja, in many ways, is the antithesis of a finisher because sans scoops, reverse-sweeps and with a limited range, he is waiting for the bowler to make a make. And it gives a lot more space to the bowlers to work around, as the margin of error is suddenly bigger than what they usually encounter at the death. If Jadeja’s batting in Test cricket keeps improving, the same can’t be said when the length of the game shrinks.

Partnership over FIFTY now for the fourth wicket 👌🏻👌🏻
The Rinku-Rana pair have rescued @KKRiders out of trouble and with some composure 🧊#KKR need 49 off 42.
Follow the match ▶️ https://t.co/d7m0BcEtvi #TATAIPL | #CSKvKKR pic.twitter.com/dgmMmUxDVu
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 14, 2023
In IPL 2022, when he captained Super Kings, Jadeja averaged only 19.3 and had a strike rate of 118.37 in 10 innings. This season, he has scored 133 runs in nine innings at an average of 19 and a strike rate of 127.88 as Chennai also have to make do with Dhoni’s reluctance to bat higher. Coming to bat in the 12th over, Jadeja had the time to bail out Chennai, but the time he ended his torturous stay in the final over, he had only 20 runs of 24 deliveries. The one six he hit meant he took 23 deliveries to score 14 runs during a phase when the dew was beginning to set in and it was getting relatively easy to score runs.
If the Chepauk crowd had been wanting him to get out to get a glimpse of Dhoni, on Sunday they were beginning to get restless with the way he went about his innings. The thunderous eruption when he was dismissed didn’t seem like it was only because they wanted to see their Thala bat. With Jadeja getting stuck, it was Dube, who once again rescued Chennai, with an unbeaten 48 off 34 deliveries.

A convincing chase and a special Knight in Chennai for @KKRiders 💜👏🏻
The @NitishRana_27-led #KKR are well and truly alive in the tournament 😎
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/d7m0BcEtvi #TATAIPL | #CSKvKKR pic.twitter.com/oZcq5Blj6G
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 14, 2023
Walk in the park
For Kolkata, a target of 145 was not going to cause any problems, particularly with the dew setting in. now, even Chennai knew that their total of 144/6 was nowhere close to a score they could defend as Dhoni reckoned 180 would have been an ideal target to set. Though Kolkata lost three wickets – gifted all parameters to Deepak Chahar – inside five overs, it was a matter of one good partnership. And with Chennai’s spinners neutralised because of the dew, Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh batted not just sensibly but also with the sort of command that silenced the packed stadium.