The match between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders was expected to be a high-scoring cracker but it rather turned into a low-scoring game. Chennai won the toss and invited Kolkata to have a bat on a typical MA Chidambaram pitch. KKR lost their four wickets in no time as Deepak Chahar ran riots during the powerplay. He dismissed Chris Lynn and Nitish Rana for a duck while Robin Uthappa was his third wicket. Harbhajan Singh and Imran Tahir took two wickets apiece as KKR managed just 108/9 in 20 overs. Andre Russell was the reason that they crossed 100-run mark as he scored an unbeaten 50 runs in 44 balls.
In response, Shane Watson played some big shots to avoid initial butterflies and stroked 17 runs off 9 balls. Suresh Raina was in some mood to play big shots but he too couldn’t cross 20-run mark. Sunil Narine was the man with both wickets. Meanwhile, Faf du Plessis was playing slowly but steadily. He anchored Chennai’s run-chase with an unbeaten 45-ball 43 runs, where he hit three boundaries. Ambati Rayudu scored crucial 21 runs to hand CSK a seven-wicket win in 17.2 overs. Have a look at what were the reasons for defeat, which cost KKR the game.
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Deepak Chahar’s early blitz
Chennai’s opening bowler Deepak Chahar was swinging the ball since the first ball. He sent Chris Lynn back in the very first over for a five-ball duck. His second over saw Nitish Rana falling in his trap for a second duck of the innings. Robin Uthappa was his last victim, who scored 11 runs and was caught by Ravindra Jadeja near the boundary rope. Chahar bowled 20 dot balls in his spell as he finished with figures of 3/20 in four overs.
Poor at powerplay
Kolkata Knight Riders found themselves in disarray at the end of the powerplay. Chennai bowlers didn’t allow breathing space to them and Kolkata was reduced 29/4 after six overs. Deepak Chahar was instrumental in that phase and dismissed three KKR batsmen while Harbhajan Singh kept the line and lengths tight to grab Sunil Narine’s important wicket. This passage of play proved vital in the match.
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No one anchored KKR’s innings
Kolkata Knight Riders was searching for a batsman to play anchor’s role when they were losing wickets at regular interval. Only two of the top-six crossed double-digit score while none of them touched 20-run mark. No one played like Faf du Plessis, who anchored Chennai’s chase with perfection and remained not out till the end. Had either of KKR’s top-four batted that way, they could have posted a big score.
