Live report - CSK vs KKR - Gaikwad, Jadeja get CSK back to winning ways

A comfortable win in the end for CSK who have returned home and to winning ways. Once Mitchell fell, it was the Shivam Dube show in Chennai, who continued his merry run in the IPL. He hammered Varun Chakravarthy for back-to-back sixes and then muscled Arora for another one over deep midwicket. And the crowd then got what they came in for with MS Dhoni walking out with three runs left. He took a couple of singles and left it to Gaikwad to hit the winning runs, who responded by thrashing Anukul Roy through covers.

CSK have trounced KKR by seven wickets and 14 balls to spare.

Shivam Dube has played his role smashing 28 off 18 before falling to Vaibhav Arora. Alagappan describes the scenes at Chepauk. Jadeja was almost set to come out, then he just made a giant U-turn and went back. Because....here's Chennai's Thala MS Dhoni walking out. The cell phone cameras are out. The flags are waving. The whistles are deafening. "Dho-ni! Dho-ni! Dho-ni!" Everyone has leapt out of their seats. Its standing room only at Chepauk. And the DJ's at it. He's pulled up the Jailer soundtrack.

And he has been backed really well by Daryl Mitchell. Remember, Mitchell is not CSK's designated No. 3 batter, but Ajinkya Rahane has been struggling with a calf strain, which saw Mitchell getting promoted. On a surface where starting off hasn't been easy and run-scoring an arduous task, Mitchell and Gaikwad played a measured knock. No fancy shots, no unnecessary risks, just normal cricketing shots.

Mitchell went after Narine crashing him for a six and four and while the duo did not always get the boundaries flowing, they made sure to get the scoreboard ticking. In the 36 balls between overs six to 12, they scored 44 runs - 17 singles, five doubles, two fours and one six - and that was needed as the required rate crept below six an over.

Coming into this game, Gaikwad had only scored 88 runs in four games with a highest score of 46. The CSK captain made amends, scoring his first fifty of the season, taking his side closer. He added 70 off 55 balls with Mitchell. By the time Mitchell fell, clean bowled by Narine, CSK were close to securing a third straight win at home.

Ruturaj Gaikwad hasn't had the best of times in the powerplay this season, but in a modest chase, he has started off really well. After a watchful first over, he slowly got going with a ramp off Vaibhav Arora. From 4 off 9 to 32 off 23 by the end of the powerplay. Even as Rachin Ravindra fell after launching three fours against Mitchell Starc, Gaikwad found his bearings. It was not the easiest surface to start on and Gaikwad bedded in for the long haul.

He took on the left-arm spin of Anukul Roy backing away first ball and creaming him through covers. He repeated those shots two more times in the over before smashing Vaibhav Arora for two back-to-back fours.

CSK were almost toe-to-toe with KKR in the powerplay, the one phase where KKR actually dominated. Some dew is also now on the field, which might hamper KKR's spinners.

From Nagraj Gollapudi: Chepauk has never been a batter’s paradise. The slower surfaces have been a challenge to batters, making free scoring a hard grind. Another such slower surface confronted one of the most free-scoring batting line-ups this IPL: Knight Riders. Not a single batter could breathe easy.

However, I wonder, if there is one person in the Knight Riders dugout who might out have licked his lips attempting to quell the Chepauk challenge. Gautam Gambhir, former Knight Riders’ captain, and currently their team mentor, was one of the finest players of spin. Gambhir never bludgeoned bowlers, but he quietly dominated proceeding using his feet, the crease and his penchant for finding gaps. His record at Chepauk in IPL: three half-centuries in seven innings with an aggregate of 187 runs at an average over 30 and a strike rate of 116.

While the strike rate isn’t ideal, I feel Gambhir would have kept the scoreboard ticking while shepherding his partner to find ways to score more freely. Of course, Gambhir enjoyed being pitted against the master thinker Dhoni, making the contest an intense battle. None was bigger than the 2012 IPL final which Gambhir’s Knight Riders won with two balls remaining. Dhoni had a 6-5 record in CSK v KKR battles against Gambhir in IPL

The Knight Riders would love Gambhir to play a hand in overturning his team’s fortunes on Monday from the dugout, however impossible the task seems at the halfway mark.

Once the 15 overs were done, Gaikwad got the fast bowlers in play, who have done a stellar job in restricting KKR to just 137. KKR only managed 28 runs in the last four overs losing four wickets. Again, the off-pace deliveries coming to the bowler's aid. Mustafizur Rahman might have been coming from a long run-up but all he was doing was getting the slower cutters in, which would have made any left-arm orthodox bowler proud.

Tushar Deshpande first rattled Rinku Singh's stumps with a slower ball with Andre Russell coming in only in the 17th over. He found the going tough from the get-go; Mustafizur beating him outside off repeatedly. Russell was also dropped by Dhoni (yep!) behind the stumps. Deshpande then sent back Russell in the penultimate over, while Mustafizur delivered a stellar last over picking two wickets and conceding just two runs! While Deshpande finished with 3 for 33 off his four overs, Fizz picked 2 for 22, and also became the highest wicket-taker in the competition.

This is the same pitch that had been used for the first game of the IPL. Then, it had a fair bit of bounce and wasn't lacking in pace either. Now it's lost both of those traits. Even when the quicks were in operation, the ball was sneaking under the bat as Narine tried to break free. Ravindra Jadeja must have seen that. All through his spell, he made sure to plant the ball into the pitch.

Normally Jadeja's plan in these conditions is to be as accurate as possible. Here he knew he had to do one other thing as well. Not bowl full. Let the natural variation that this pitch is offering do its thing. Because on a surface that doesn't have as much pace and bounce, you can limit the batter's options just by hitting a hard length and targeting the stumps. That much was painfully apparent as KKR's right-handers tried desperately to make room against him to hit him with horizontal bat shots, but the ball was on them too quickly and they never had the chance to get under it. All the shots they played ended up finding cover or long-off.

The spin strangle brings about KKR's downfall. A comparison of the first six overs versus overs 6.1 to 15.

First six overs:

From overs 6.1 to 15:

The CSK spinners had not picked a single wicket at Chepauk in the previous two matches in IPL 2024. Ravindra Jadeja is almost single-handedly trying to change that stat. He picked three wickets in his first eight balls of the match, getting rid of the cream of the KKR batting. He first sends back Angkrish Raghuwanshi, who shapes up for a reverse sweep, misses and is caught right in front. Then he gets rid of Sunil Narine for the fourth time in five T20 innings. Venkatesh Iyer is Jadeja's third victim as he his holed out to deep midwicket with Daryl Mitchell taking a good catch.

It's the simple wicket-to-wicket stuff that has helped Jadeja get the wickets. Thirteen of the 24 balls of his spell Jadeja has kept on a length, not giving the batters much room, conceding just one boundary in his four overs. He has also made sure to vary his pace well keeping the trajectory on the flatter side and not allowing the batters to get under the ball.

Jadeja ends his spell with 3 for 18, an economy of 4.50.

No other batter has more runs in the powerplay than Sunil Narine in IPL 2024. He’s just gone past Virat Kohli and has a strike rate in excess of 200 inside the first six overs! And he has started off like a train against CSK as well with not even a shoulder injury stopping him. After a lot of swishing and backing away and not connecting in the first over, he goes after Tushar Deshpande in his second. As Simmons suggested, Deshpande is not giving Narine any room and trying to keep the ball on his hips. But the line is still a touch awry down leg. Narine gets going with a four through deep square leg. He then clears mid-off with a lofted shot over long-off before teasing Daryl Mitchell at deep backward square leg and just clearing him.

It’s the clarity that works for Narine. He comes out with just one thing in mind, which is to clear the ropes. And the clean swing of the bat helps him. The timing today has just been so pure despite the shoulder injury. Even when Maheesh Theekshana comes on, Narine clears long-on with ease. The more Narine stays at the crease, the more CSK are going to get frustrated. KKR anyway have a power-packed batting line-up and Narine at the top is just making it an even more formidable unit.

KKR are 56 for 1 after the powerplay

Alagappan Muthu with another gem from Chepauk: "Enna Chennai sound-ae kaanum. "Ithu namma team. Namma support pannala-na...." [What, Chennai? Where's the sound? This is our team, if we don't support them...] That was the DJ in the third over and before he could finish the sentence the crowd found their voice. "Who are we?" "C-S-K!" "Who are the champions?" "C-S-K!" "Who are the best?" "K-K-R!" Just kidding, they said CSK.

Last evening at the press conference, bowling consultant Eric Simmons said the team had already sat down and discussed how to stop the Knight Riders batting from balling. He looked confident about what they'd come up with and what they'd come up which looks like keeping the ball on Narine's hip and refusing him the room to free the arms.

Tushar Deshpande removes Phil Salt first ball of the game. A gentle length ball shaping away from Salt who throws his hands at it but doesn't keep it down. Sort of slashes at it. Ravindra Jadeja, at backward point, moves to his left reverse cupped above his head and plucks out a stunning catch. Just the kind of start CSK would have been looking for. Against SRH, Moeen Ali had dropped one very early and that sort of derailed their chances of defending a par score. Jadeja, though, makes no such mistake and CSK are chuffed.

Ruturaj Gaikwad says it is a good toss to win, looks quite humid. We will bowl first. We have confidence. We have lost by a few runs margin but it hasn't dented our confidence. We have had some forced changes too. Definitely trying to win. (Against KKR) They are playing a good brand of cricket but we would like to focus on ourselves, do simple things right. Matheesha Pathirana is not available, Deepak Chahar has a niggle. So we have Shardul Thakur back, Mustafizur Rahman back, and Sameer Rizvi.

Shreyas Iyer says he would have bowled first as well. KKR are sticking to the same team that has served them well. So, no Nitish Rana back just yet. History doesn't matter says Iyer.

Chennai Super Kings: 1 Ruturaj Gaikwad, 2 Rachin Ravindra, 3 Ajinkya Rahane, 4 Maheesh Theekshana, 5 Daryl Mitchell, 6 Sameer Rizvi, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 MS Dhoni (wk), 9 Shardul Thakur, 10 Mustafizur Rahman, 11 Tushar Deshpande

Subs: Mooen Ali, Shivam Dube, Shaik Rasheed, Nishant Sindhu, Mitchell Santner

Kolkata Knight Riders: 1 Phil Salt (wk), 2 Sunil Narine, 3 Venkatesh Iyer, 4 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 5 Angkrish Raghuvanshi, 6 Andre Russell, 7 Rinku Singh, 8 Ramandeep Singh, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Vaibhav Arora, 11 Varun Chakaravarthy

Subs: Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Manish Pandey, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Sakib Hussain

Pitch report from Graeme Swann and WV Raman: As a batsman you look at the ground it is tiny. It is a beautiful ground, It is 80m down the ground, I am told. In the pockets it is small as well. As a bowler, you have not got a lot to work with. Chennai has always got good pitches and thereby good cricket as well. It is rock hard and the batters will have a good time. But the bowlers will get good bounce as well. Spinners might extract some bounce here, and spinners like pitches that have some bounce. I am not seeing a great deal for the offspinners, and not a lot of cracks.

As Alagappan suggested, Mustafizur is around, so there is a chance he might play. KKR's social media handles were abuzz with Nitish Rana in the nets. Can he come back? But in who's place? Angkrish Raghuvanshi, the 18-year-old batter lit up the IPL in his first outing scoring 54 off 27 balls. He has limitations, but he won't let them come in his way, writes Alagappan Muthu.

Alagappan Muthu shares some pointers from the venue. Daryl Mitchell doing his visualisation exercises. Venky Iyer having a bowl. Rinku Singh having throwdowns. Andre Russell having the actual gall to defend his own throwdowns. Mustafizur Rahman (yep, he’s here, and it looks like he might play) randomly breaking into his bowling action. And the sea of yellow that fills the Chepauk. All the match day feels are here. In the walk from the metro to the stadium, I spotted two KKR shirts. Either I’m the world’s worst at spotting the colour purple or this is going to be a very partisan crowd.