Kolkata Knight Riders served up a courageous bowling performance to contain Chennai Super Kings to 103 for 9 in a low-scoring Indian Premier League match here on Friday. Ordered to bat, CSK failed to take off at all since wickets came by at even intervals to confine them to their lowest tally at home. Shivam Dube (31 not out), Vijay Shankar (29) and Rahul Tripathi (16) were the leading run getters from CSK.
Ravi Shastri’s Blunt Verdict On CSK
“No excuses for this,” Ravi Shastri was blunt in his analysis while doing commentary for Star Sports.
Sunil Narine did not yield a single boundary in his penurious spell of 3-13 as an clinical performance by Kolkata Knight Riders’ bowlers saw them peg back a hapless Chennai Super Kings to a sub-par total of 103/9, their lowest on their home turf MA Chidambaram Stadium, here today.
Spin Dominates on Black Soil
On a black-soil ground, spin dominated from the outset, Narine, Varun Chakaravarthy and Moeen Ali, to counter left-handers, collected six wickets between them as CSK’s batting never really took off.
CSK Batters Fail to Capitalise After Winning Toss
CSK preferred to bat after losing the toss, but failed to make the most of their choice as they were never able to free themselves from the tight bowling by KKR bowlers. Shivam Dube’s 29-ball 31 not out was what saved CSK from being all out for their lowest score (79) in IPL history.
Early Wickets Derail CSK’s Momentum
Devon Conway started by claiming two boundaries off pacer Vaibhav Arora, before being out for 12 when his reverse-sweep of Moeen came back to get him trapped lbw in a wicket-maiden over. The CSK woes continued in the following over, when Rachin Ravindra slog-sliced one off Harshit Rana and was caught at cover.
KKR might have picked another wicket had Vijay Shankar not been dropped by Moeen off mid-off while on zero. Shankar from thereon pulled and lofted Chakaravarthy over boundaries, then hoicked Moeen over mid-wicket for a six. Shankar’s luck didn’t end as Venkatesh Iyer dropped him on 20 at mid-wicket.
