In a four-over session that saw Jadeja take three wickets for just eighteen runs, the KKR spinners failed to establish a rhythm against the CSK batsmen, giving up 74 runs in just nineteen overs.
At the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Kolkata Knight Riders’ first defeat of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season occurred against the five-time champion Chennai Super Kings. The team’s captain, Shreyas Iyer, broke down the game. On a Chepauk surface that remained true to its natural state and was on the slower side, Ravindra Jadeja led the home team’s bowling attack on Monday, setting the stage for CSK to win by a comprehensive seven wickets. KKR ended the powerplay with a score of 56/1, having lost Philip Salt’s wicket on the opening ball of the innings.
After that, KKR worked extremely hard to put runs on the board while struggling to adapt to the surface.
“In my opinion, we did a poor job of evaluating the wicket. We were outstanding during the powerplay, but we were unable to capitalize and lost wickets one after the other. We were unable to evaluate the situation as soon as we would have liked. After the powerplay, everything shifted, and it wasn’t easy to score runs off this wicket,” Iyer stated following the game.
In just 9.4 overs, the KKR spinners failed to establish a rhythm against the CSK batsmen, giving up 74 runs on a surface that saw Jadeja take three wickets for just 18 runs during his four-over session.
“It is evident that they have a good understanding of the conditions and executed their plan of bowling. Even with the arrival of the hard-hitters, it was a little cheesy, and they couldn’t easily score runs off the first ball. After the powerplay, everything drastically changed. Things didn’t go as planned as we were attempting to build our innings. We apply those lessons going ahead,” he continued.
With their combined nine overs, five wickets, and only 50 runs let up, the spin trio of Jadeja, Maheesh Theekshana, and Rachin Ravindra held KKR to a disappointing 137/9.
We anticipated that 160–170 would be a wonderful score on this wicket because we were in a good position at first. The circumstances were quite identical even when they played RCB. Hence, that was our strategy, but Iyer noted that it’s challenging to maintain momentum when you lose successive wickets.
“I’m happy this occurred right at the beginning of the competition. We know our home conditions rather well when we return. We must evaluate the circumstances and make the most of them,” he said in closing.
As they chased 138, CSK easily won by 7 wickets, with captain Ruturaj Gaikwad (67*) turning up the most impressive effort at the batting.
