Chennai, Apr 8 (UNI) A disciplined bowling performance by the bowlers, thanks to three wicket hauls by spinner Ravindra Jadeja and pacer Tushar Deshpande and two wickets in the final over by left arm seamer Mustafizur Rahman helped five time winners and champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to restrict Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to 137 for nine in the IPL match at the M.A.Chidambaram Stadium here on Monday night.
After being inserted in, KKR got off to a bad start, recovered well in the power play scoring 50 in five overs, before losing wickets at regular intervals after Jadeja's triple strike and were restricted to a below par total on a slow wicket that offers some assistance for the spinners.
While skipper Shreyas Iyer top scored with 34 off 32 balls with three fours for KKR and 20-plus scores by Sunil Narine and Angkrish Raghuvanshi, the rest of the batsmen found it difficult to up the ante and fell short of a par score.
For CSK Jadeja and Deshpande picked up three wickets each, while Mustafizur Rahman picked up two wickets, both in the last over as KKR just added 67 in the last ten overs, including 38 in the death overs.
It was a great start for CSK. Medium pacer Tushar Deshpande, opening the bowling
in the absence of Deepak Chahar, who missed out due to a niggle, struck off the first
ball of the innings getting rid of Phil Salt, when Ravindra jadeja, pulled off a blinder at
point, timing his jump superbly.
Left hander Sunil Narine, fresh from his explosive 89 in 39 balls the other day, when
KKR piled up a monumental 272 against Delhi Capitals, and under-19
star Angkrish Raghuvanshi made most of the power play adding 56 runs in six
overs, before a triple strike by Ravindra Jadeja in eight balls halted the momentum.
The next for overs yielded just 14 runs with the spinners choking the run flow.
Coming in after the power play, Jadeja trapped Raghuvanshi (24, 18 balls, 3x4, 1x6)
off the first ball when the batsman went for a reverse sweep and was trapped in the
front. Four balls later, Sunil Narine (27, 20 balls, 3x4, 2x6), despite suffering from a
left shoulder niggle and had a brief treatment, holed out to Theekashana at long off.
The wicket of another inform-player left hander Venkatesh Iyer (3), who pulled straight
to Daryl Mitchell at the deep midwicket fence, pegged back the KKR innings further
as CSK came back roaring in front a packed crowd.
Bowling on the trot, Jadeja completed his quota of four overs conceding 18 runs and
taking three wickets, to put CSK at the top.
KKR, who recovered after the early loss of Salt to 56 for one in six overs, were
quickly reduced to 64 for four in 8.2 overs. They were in for more trouble when
offie Maheesh Theekshana, who got some turn from the surface and troubled
the batsmen after conceding 13 runs in his first over, castled Ramanadeep Singh
(13, 12 balls, 1x6) reducing the visitors further to 85 for five by the 12th over as
CSK used three spinners including part time left armer Rachin Ravindra.
KKR, who scored 50/1 runs in first five overs, reached 70 for four at the halfway
stage and 99 for five by the end of 15 overs, as skipper Shreyas Iyer and big
hitter Rinku Singh tried to build the innings by milking the bowling as boundaries
dried up against CSK bowlers kept them on tight leash.
However, Deshpande, coming back for his second spell, got rid of
Rinku (10, 15 balls) as he edged a slower ball onto his stumps as KKR were
staring at 112 for six in the 17th over, as big hitter Andre Russell joined his
skipper at the crease, hoping for a final flourish in the last three overs.
Russel, on five, got a lifeline when Dhoni failed to hold an edge off Mustafizur
despite a valiant effort, but CSK bowlers continued to dominate.
However, he failed to make most of it and holed out to Ravindra at long on and
soon Shreyas Iyer departed when Jadeja, held his 100th catch at deep midwicket
off Mustafizur, who picked up another wicket of Mitchell Starc in the last over, to
restrict KKR to a moderate total.
Mustafizur, who started with a four wicket haul in the opening contest against RCB,
is on the top of the purple cap table with nine wickets and Jadeja presented him the
cap at the end of the innings.
The job is now with the CSK batters as the home team is eyeing for third successive
win at home, but losing the last two away matches.
Following is the scoreboard :
KKR Innings :
Phil Salt c Jadeja b Deshpande 0
Sunil Narine c Theekshana b Jadeja 27
A.Raghuvanshi lbw Jadeja 24
Shreyas Iyer c Jadeja b Mustafizur Rahman 34
Venkatesh Iyer c Mitchell b Jadeja 3
Ramandeep Singh b Theekshana 13
Rinku Singh b Deshpande 9
Andre Russell c Ravindra b Deshpande 10
Ankul Roy (not out) 3
Mitchell Starc c Ravindra b Mustafizur 0
Vaibhav Arora (not out) 1
Extras : (B-1 LB-4, NB-2, W-6) 13
Total : 137 for nine in 20 overs.
Fall of wickets :
1-0, 2-56, 3-60, 4-64, 5-85, 5-112, 6-112 , 7-127, 8-135, 9-135.
CSK Bowling :
Tushar Deshpande 4-0-33-3
Mustafizur Rahman 4-0-22-2
Shardul Thakur 3-0-27-0
Maheesh Theekshana 4-0-28-1
Ravindra Jadeja 4-0-18-3
Rachin Ravindra 1-0-4-0
UNI GV 2135