KKR commence the IPL with an easy win against Chennai Super Kings. CSK reached a score of 131 on the shoulders of the former skipper MS Dhoni. Unfortunately, that was not enough for CSK to win the inaugural match at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
The chase of KKR led by Ajinkya Rahane
It was the opener Ajinkya Rahane who started the chase and led for a lion’s share. Starting with some sharp drives and a magnificent pull shot six off Adam Milne. Rahane struggled to continue as CSK hit KKR back from a different angle through Dwayne Bravo who successfully nicked off the wickets of Venkatesh Iyer and Nitish Rana respectively.
Rahane’s 44 had set the rhythm for KKR to chase, despite minor bumps on the road.
What caused the bumps during the chase for KKR?
The early departure of Venkatesh Iyer and Nitish Rana along with the well-established Rahane when he turned Santner to midwicket. CSK somehow managed to deliver some tight overs to keep KKR on the bay, yet somehow they got out of the tangle and kept on moving ahead.
Sam Billings played a hand of remaining busy in a 22-ball 25. While he fell prey to Dwayne Bravo’s bowling attack, he had done enough damage to CSK along with skipper Shreyas Iyer. Shreyas Iyer remained unbeaten on 20. They both made sure that CSK was not going to come back.
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What did not go according to plan for CSK?
A lot did not go according to their plan while trying to set up a good target for KKR to chase. Ruturaj Gaikwad was sent off immediately by a blistering Umesh Yadav delivery. Umesh struck again when he sent off opener Devon Conway. CSK since then, has been forced to go on the back foot. That was orchestrated by a tight spell from the spinners – Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine.
A quick stumping by Sheldon Jackson as Robin Uthappa went out of balance gave Chennai away to further collapse.
The game turned around when MS Dhoni came on board, at least that is what was thought of initially. Dhoni unfurled some of his best shots in recent times, pulling and whipping with great precision and timing. He went through a time of hitting that pushed him towards his well-deserved half-century. He just managed to score his last 35 off just 13 balls. He also finished off the innings in style with a six in the last ball.
