Before bowlers scripted an easy win, the two CSK hitters blasted 10 out of 18 sixes and stitched 85 in 32 balls.
There are landslides and then there are wins. Chennai Super Kings are gradually finding their ruthless groove at home and away, on slow, two-paced, and rapid pitches. Royal Challengers Bangalore in Bengaluru, Sunrisers Hyderabad at home, and now Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens, CSK’s precision is both expected and surprising.
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MS Dhoni hasn’t batted in a long time. If Devon Conway makes you sit up one day, Shivam Dube makes you sit up the next. One of those is making death bowlers out of Maheesh Theekshana and Matheesha Pathirana. Making death bowlers out of Maheesh Theekshana and Matheesha Pathirana is another CSK tradition. But Ajinkya Rahane as an enforcer of middle-overs? That can put even the craziest cricket imagination to shame.
Rahane smashed five sixes in a 29-ball 71 with a strike rate of nearly 245 against KKR on Sunday in what was the highest total of this IPL. Add to that Dube’s 21-ball 50 in an innings that featured 18 sixes and two successive stands that generated 73 in 45 balls and 85 off 32, and all CSK needed to do was bowl the basics. KKR’s attempt of beginning with Sunil Narine lasted three balls until Jason Roy’s 26-ball 61 sparked hope. CSK cruised to a 49-run victory, moving them to the top of the table, despite the spinners leaking some runs.
A dropped catch was one of the first signs that things were not going well for KKR after they sent CSK to bat. When Ruturaj Gaikwad hit Narine inside out for six at a ground where his economy is 6.27 in 48 IPL outings, a stronger premonition began to form. The turned down referral of Rahane in the 12th over after spinner Suyash Sharma smacked his back could have been the tipping factor. After that appeal, Rahane and Dube began pelting the spectators with sixes, dispersing CSK players from their dugout and left KKR at a loss for words and backup plans.
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CSK were 160/2 in the 15th over, with Narine averaging 11.5 in two overs, Varun Chakaravarthy averaging 10 in three overs, Umesh Yadav averaging 11.66 in three overs, and David Wiese averaging 12.66 in three overs. The start was foreboding, with Gaikwad beginning with a scratchy inside-edged boundary before Conway dumped Wiese over square-leg for six, one ball after failing to hang on to a tough return catch from the Kiwi opener. Rahane opened the floodgates after Wiese and Kulwant Khejroliya gave up 28 runs in the last two overs of the powerplay.
Clean hits, cheeky sixes, scoops, reverse scoops, glances, pulls, hooks, and stunning cover drives – the next few overs saw it all as KKR’s spinners were blasted out of the track. Dube made his debut off Chakaravarthy with two sixes, the first over midwicket before opening his stance and heading towards long-on. Rahane blasted Yadav for successive sixes after he returned, trying to staunch the leak. In the 18th over, Dube blasted out to Roy at long-off, but Rahane was far from finished. After almost losing his off-stump due to a faulty scoop, he lifted Chakaravarthy over his head for consecutive sixes and a four before Ravindra Jadeja hammered two sixes to set up a tough goal.
