IPL 2020: Match 21: CSK hands victory to KKR

Chennai Superkings turned a corner in the last match when they stream rolled Kings XI Punjab on the way to a 10 wicket victory. They needed that victory to get their campaign back on track. Kolkata Knight Riders on the other hand lost while chasing a big total against Delhi Capitals and they wanted to get back to the winning ways when they met CSK yesterday at Abudhabi. It was a wicket-keeper’s match up with both the teams being lead by their respective wicket keepers.

So how did it go?

Here are my 5 point highlights from the match.

1. Rahul (Tripathi): Naam toh suna hoga

This tournament has brought the best of many Rahul’s over the last few days. We have already seen the heroics of KL Rahul and Rahul Tewatia earlier. Yesterday was the turn of Rahul Tripathi. I first saw Rahul Tripathi in 2017 when playing for Rising Pune SuperGiants, he went on the rampage and scored a stroke-filled half-century to win the match single-handedly against KKR. Next two years he didn’t get enough opportunities in the top of the order. This year when KKR acquired his services, I felt he should slot in as an opener right from match one because I never felt that Sunil Naraine as an opener was the right decision. He got his first opportunity to play for KKR in the last match but he came in at the fall of the 6th wicket with the match completely out of hands. But it was he along with Eoin Morgan who turned around the chase and took KKR close. That innings prompted KKR to promote him as an opener against CSK. And, Rahul Tripathi clicked right away. 81 off 51 balls in a total score of 167 proves that it was his performance which gave the KKR score some respectability. The next highest score was 17 – just shows the wide gap that Rahul created yesterday. Now hoping that he grabs this opportunity in both hands and cement his place in the KKR set up. He is an exciting player to watch.

Shah Rukh Khan and the name “Rahul” go hand in hand – most of the iconic movies of SRK had him play the character called Rahul – and for Rahul Tripathi to perform and get the Man of the Match in front of the team owner, Shah Rukh Khan must have been equally exhilarating. That the loudest cheers in the background yesterday, as Rahul picked up his MoM award, was coming from Shah Rukh Khan amplified this fact.

2. Karn Sharma

Karn Sharma is another product of IPL. He performed so well a few seasons back for Mumbai Indians that he was straight away slotted into the Indian team where he badly flopped. But he still remains a good player in IPL cricket. That he was selected ahead of Piyush Chawla yesterday was definitely due to the shrewd leadership idea of MS Dhoni. MSD knew very well that the KKR team will play Piyush very well since Piyush was part of the KKR set up for many years. Add to that the past record of Karn Sharma against KKR and we had this inspiring change in the CSK lineup yesterday. Karn went for 12 runs in the first over. But his next 3 overs went for only 13 runs and he picked up 2 wickets. KKR looked all set to score close to 200 runs but Karn’s double strike in the middle overs slowed the momentum and brought CSK back in the match.

3. Shardul Thakur

I have hardly seen a match where Shardul Thakur doesn’t take a wicket. He has this happy knack of picking up wickets but goes for plenty of runs too. Yesterday we saw a different Shardul Thakur in the field. 2/28 in his 4 overs just amplifies that fact. The two wickets that he took included Andre Russell and we all know how dangerous Russell can be towards the end of the innings. His wicket brought the KKR innings to a virtual halt because from there on it was about somehow reaching 170 which was also not achieved at the end. Shardul Thakur is a very handy bat in the lower middle order so if he can match this bowling performance consistently then he can become an important addition to the Indian team.

4. Dwane Bravo

Bravo plays for the Knight Riders’ franchise in CPL so he has a great relationship with the KKR management. Yesterday he was up against KKR and he did exceedingly well which happened to be his birthday as well. His returns of 3/37 off 4 overs doesn’t give the true picture because 2 of those wickets were of the tailenders. But, the fact that he took the wicket of Rahul Tripathi makes his figures look even better because Rahul was all set for a century and he was in the kind of form who could have propelled KKR close to 200. Bravo is an important clog in the CSK wheel because he is an all-rounder and most importantly he bowls in the death overs. CSK doesn’t have out and out fast bowlers in their rank so it’s important for Bravo to perform consistently especially with the ball.

5. Middle overs fiasco

99/1 in 12 overs chasing 167 should be a cake in the park. It looked like an easy victory for CSK. Both Watson and Rayudu looked in good touch and with Pat Cummins bowled out it didn’t look good for KKR. But in the space of 7 balls, CSK lost both the set batsmen and KKR zeroed in. Yesterday Naraine was held back for the back end and he just didn’t give away easy balls. CSK scored just 43 runs in the next 7 overs. This was only possible due to the tight bowling by Varun, Naraine, and Russell. CSK batsmen were at fault too because they have a very long batting line up so they needed to take a little bit more risks. Jhadav was not using his feet at all and wasted too many deliveries. A winnable match was lost and CSK handed the victory to KKR on a platter.

Yesterday the match was about 2 halves. Both the teams while batting looked solid in the first 10-11 overs only to fretter out at the end. For KKR 98/2 in 11 overs turned to 167 all out and for CSK 99/2 in 12 overs turned to 157/5. For CSK it would hurt more not only because they lost the match but also because they still had Bravo to come. In hindsight, it would have been better for them if Jhadav got out early rather than wasting so many balls.

So what do you think stood out for you yesterday? What changes does CSK need to do to their line up? Was bowling out Pat Cummins so early the right decision? 

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