CSK back to old ways as they hand victory to KKR!

First innings

KKR made an inspired change at the top of their batting order after deciding to bat first having some the toss. Rahul Tripathi came out along with Shubman Gill instead of Sunil Narine. The move worked as Tripathi looked in fine touch continuing his good work from the last game where he batted at number 8.

But his opening partner and number three man Rana, who were in good form in this tournament failed to back him up and fell cheaply. Gill for a 12 ball 11 and Rana for 9 of 10 balls, both scoring less than run a ball.

There was another change in the middle order, with Narine being sent at number 4, to do the pinch hitter role, he did fare better than opening the innings, scoring a quickfire 17 of 9 balls, that included a six and a four. Rahul Tripathi continued his excellent form at one end, as he reached his half-century on the 10th over of 31 balls, with a very good strike rate.

But there was not capable support for Tripathi at the other end, as the middle order of KKR failed to deliver, Morgan, Russell and Karthik all fell very cheaply for scores of 7, 2 and 12 respectively. Tripathi was the lone man taking charge if the KKR innings, He ended up with a score of 81 from 51 balls, before falling to Dwayne Bravo in the 17th over. Cummins did hit a couple of lusty blows, and KKR were bowled out on the last ball of the innings, at a score of 167. All the Chennai bowlers except Chahar had good figures, Curran, Thakur and Karn Sharma taking 2 wickets each, and Bravo bowling well in the death to close it out with figures of 3 for 37 from his allocated quota of 4 overs.

This was only the second time in this year’s IPL, that a team batting first had ended getting bowled out, and KKR definitely would feel they could have got a few more.

Second Innings:

CSK started their innings hoping for a repeat of their last match, where their openers T-ed off and took them home for one of their easiest 10 wicket victory. Although Faf and Watto started with some good shots, especially from Faf, he went early in the 4th over, nicking off to Karthik off the bowling of Shivam Mavi.

Raydu joined Watson in the middle and the pair did seem to have the run chase under control, And for long parts of that partnership, CSK were looking like they were going to run away with this match as well. The partnership was worth 69 runs, and by the end of 12 the over, CSK needed just 69 from the last 8 overs with 9 wickets in hand, and no punter would have given any chance for KKR to win.

But CSK managed to lose it again, that’s right, a game that was Soo well and truly in their grasp was let slip in the last 8 overs, thanks to some old habit of slow batting in the end, which we thought was a history seeing their last match result.

Once Raydu and Watson fell in consecutive overs for scores of 30 and 50, CSK lost their way. Captain cool seem to have forgotten his finishing touches, and couple hits from Sam Curran weren’t enough for Chennai. The final nail in the coffin was hit by Kedar Jadhav, who came in on the 17th over with 39 required off 21 balls, which is expected to be scored 8 out of 10 times by these modern batsmen with their hitting abilities. But Jadhav did the opposite as he scored 7 of 12 balls which included 8 dot balls in the last 3 and a half overs. A few last over hits from Jaddu were too little too late as KKR won the match by 10 runs, or more apt to say CSK lost the match with 5 wickets in hand. All KKR bowlers except Cummins, chipped in with a wicket each, although Cummins proved his worth by being the most economical of the lot.

Rahul Tripathi was named the man of the match for his match-winning innings of 81 at the top of the order, but KKR wouldn’t mind giving that to Kedar Jadhav for his contributions towards their victory.