Chennai: Sunil Narine put out a superb all-round show – picking 3-13 in his four overs and then smashing an entertaining 44, as a ruthless Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) thoroughly outplayed Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by eight wickets in a one-sided Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 clash at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Friday.
On a black-soil pitch where there was help for spinners from the word go, Narine, Varun Chakaravarthy, and Moeen Ali, brought to counter left-handed batters, picked six wickets collectively as CSK’s batting never got going and ended up at a below-par 103/9, their lowest IPL total at Chepauk.
In reply, Narine’s pyrotechnics at the top, as well as CSK bowlers pitching their deliveries too full, meant KKR chased down the paltry total with 59 balls to spare and jumped to third place in the points table.
It also meant that CSK, now a pale shadow of their dominating self, suffered their biggest margin of defeat in the IPL in terms of balls remaining, while losing five consecutive games for the first time in their history of being in the competition.
CSK wanted to bat first after losing the toss, with MS Dhoni back as captain, but didn’t take full advantage of it as they could never break free from the discipline showed by KKR bowlers and succumbed to a combination of pressure and poor shot selection.
It took Shivam Dube’s unbeaten 29-ball 31 to save CSK from being all out for their lowest total (79) in IPL’s history. Devon Conway began by taking two boundaries off pacer Vaibhav Arora, before being dismissed for 12 when his attempt to reverse-sweep off Moeen resulted in him being trapped lbw in a wicket-maiden over.
In the next over, CSK were dealt another blow when Rachin Ravindra miscued a slog off Harshit Rana and was caught at cover. KKR could have got another wicket if Vijay Shankar wasn’t dropped by Moeen at mid-off when on zero. From there, Shankar pulled and lofted Chakaravarthy for boundaries, before hoicking Moeen over mid-wicket for six. Shankar’s charmed life continued when Venkatesh Iyer dropped him at mid-wicket on 20.
Despite that, CSK’s struggles never ended, as their almighty slide began. Shankar’s lucky stay ended at 29 when he mistimed a sweep to deep backward square leg off Chakaravarthy, while a struggling Tripathi played all around an off-break from Moeen and was beaten on the inside edge before being castled for 16.
Ravichandran Ashwin’s promotion backfired as he holed out to long-on off Rana, while Ravindra Jadeja nicked behind for a duck off Narine, and impact player Deepak Hooda chipped to short mid-wicket off Chakaravarthy. CSK’s hopes for big runs from MS Dhoni ended when he was trapped lbw for just one by Narine.
Dube, who was watching CSK’s slide from the other end, broke the 63-ball boundary drought by smashing Rana down the ground for four, before getting a top edge off Arora for another boundary. But while taking the second run, Dube pulled the muscles in his left leg, and despite that, he smashed the half-volley to long-off on the last ball of the innings to take CSK past 100.
KKR were off to a flying start as Narine and Quinton de Kock thumped Khaleel Ahmed and Anshul Kamboj for a six each. Interestingly, CSK just hit one six in their entire innings, while KKR hit two maximums in just seven balls of their chase. There was no stopping de Kock as he whipped and pulled Khaleel for two sixes.
Ravichandran Ashwin’s introduction didn’t change anything for CSK as Narine slammed a four in the gap between mid-off and extra cover, before pulling his carrom ball over deep square leg for six. But in a bid to smack Kamboj over leg-side, de Kock missed the delivery and saw the top of his off-stump being rattled, as he fell for 23.
Ajinkya Rahane was elegant in his drive down the ground off Kamboj and flicking Khaleel over square-leg for six with panache, even as Narine continued his merry run-making by heaving Khaleel for four and six respectively.
There was no respite for Ashwin as Narine pulled and lofted him for two sixes. Though Narine was castled by Noor Ahmad for 44, Rahane and Rinku Singh completed the chase quickly to give the reigning champions a big win and a huge NRR boost, even as CSK’s disappointing run continues in IPL 2025.
Brief scores:
Chennai Super Kings 103/9 in 20 overs (Shivam Dube 31 not out, Vijay Shankar 29; Sunil Narine 3-13, Harshit Rana 2-16) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 107/2 in 10.1 overs (Sunil Narine 44, Quinton de Kock 23; Noor Ahmad 1-8, Anshul Kamboj 1-19) by eight wickets.
(IANS)
