Ravi Jadeja bails Chennai out in thriller against KKR
Thanks to Ravi Jadeja, Chennai Super Kings have beaten Kolkata Knight Riders by two wickets. CSK have jumped to the top spot again, having the highest net run rate and a staggering 16 points.
Chennai continued their dream run on Sunday against Eoin Morgan-led KKR. A match that should not have gone to the final over in the first place, brought out the best in Chennai’s lower order.
Jadeja cameo seals the win
Ravi Jadeja made the most of his supreme form against the Knight Riders. With the chase getting tricky in the late overs, he struck two huge sixes and two fours in a row off Prasidh Krishna in the 19th over.
His 22 off only eight deliveries helped Chennai maintain their unbeaten streak. They have now won six straight games in the UAE. The all-rounder won the Man of the Match award for his late cameo and 1/21 in four overs.
He admitted that playing franchise cricket right after he wrapped up the Test series in England can get difficult to adjust to.
“After you have played five-day cricket and then to come to white-ball cricket, I was working on my bat swing,” Jadeja said. “I wanted to repeat whatever I was doing. The runs in the second-last over turned out to be the match-winning over for us. But Rutu and Faf gave us a good start.”
CSK openers rise and shine
Ruturaj Gaikwad and Faf du Plessis are making a habit of hammering the bowlers in powerplay overs. Once again, they provided CSK with a perfect start. Their understanding that has developed over the last two seasons is now paying dividends on the field.
Gaikwad’s 40 and du Plessis’ 43 meant that CSK had already gotten halfway through to the run chase. Had it not been for the lower order’s failure, Chennai would bag the victory an over or two before.
Even Mahindra Singh Dhoni heaped praise on the openers. “The way we started, KKR deserve some applause for making a game out of it,” he said in the post-game interview.
Reschuffle in KKR batting order
It’s fair to say that Nitish Rana’s performance today proved that KKR’s decision to make him play the last overs instead of powerplay worked. He scored 37* unbeaten to propel the Riders to 171/6.
The all-rounder’s spot as an opener was shuffled after series of poor outings. He and Shubman Gill were unable to make hay of the first six overs, hence, Rana was pushed down the order.
One thing that stood out was Dinesh Karthik’s spot. The right-handed batsman looked in a fine nick for his 11-ball 26. He seems to be too good to bat at No. 5. Playing him a bit up the order will help KKR make it big in final overs.
