Dhoni’s fifty in vain as clinical KKR start new season off in style

Late Dhoni fireworks help CSK post respectable total

If there is one way you do not want to be starting a new season, it’s by bowling a no-ball. Playing his first IPL game in 18 months, Umesh Yadav, who entered the game with a dented IPL reputation, committed the heinous crime of overstepping, that too against the batter who won the orange cap in the previous edition. But in a twist no one saw coming, the no-ball turned out to be a red-herring as the veteran seamer ran through the batting of the defending champions. 

On the very third ball of the innings, Umesh struck a body blow as he dismissed Gaikwad, the nucleus of CSK’s batting, through an outswinger that shaped away from the right-hander late. Gaikwad perished for a duck, but to add to the misery, his partner Devon Conway, making his IPL debut, managed only 3 off the 8 balls he faced before miscuing a flick, hitting it straight to the hands of Shreyas Iyer at mid-on. 

The onus was then on the experienced Uthappa and Rayudu to steady the ship, but the duo perished in the span of 5 balls. While Uthappa was stumped off Varun Chakravarthy, thanks to some smart glove-work from Sheldon Jackson, Rayudu walked back to the dressing room following a shabby call from skipper Jadeja, who sold his partner down the river. At 52/4 in the 9th over CSK were in all sorts, and things soon became worse as Shivam Dube, on CSK debut, was done for pace by Andre Russell 2 overs later. The current and ex skipper, Jadeja and Dhoni, had a job and a half on their hands when their partnership commenced, with the score 61/5 in the 11th over.

Coming on the back of a forgettable season with the bat in the previous edition, having not played any professional cricket since the last IPL, Dhoni looked rusty and unsurprisingly started slow (7 off first 17 balls) as the Knight Riders smartly strangled him with the spin of Narine and Chakravarthy. To CSK’s dismay, Jadeja struggled to time the ball too, and the first 24 balls of the partnership yielded just 12 runs. Even 120 looked out of CSK’s reach when the death overs began. 

However, a combination of some super-smart batting from Dhoni, and extremely poor death bowling from KKR, helped the Super Kings amass a whopping 58 runs in the final 5 overs. After struggling to hit the ball out of the 30-yard-circle in his first 25 balls, Dhoni got going in the 18th over after hitting three fours of Russell, who helped the former CSK skipper by erring on his lines and lengths. 

There were two more Dhoni specials in the penultimate over, including a six off a wild no-ball bowled by Shivam Mavi, and the 40-year-old rounded off the innings by smacking consecutive boundaries in the final over bowled by Russell, one of which was a trademark bottom-hand punch through the on-side. In the process, Dhoni brought up his fifty, his first in 29 innings (first since 2019 vs RCB). 

Jadeja struggled for 27 balls, but dispatched the final ball of the innings into the stands to propel the Super Kings to 131/5. 

KKR complete chase without breaking a sweat 

Having smashed the KKR bowling to smithereens in the final five overs, CSK had all the momentum heading into the second innings. However, the small nature of the target meant that they needed not one, but two or three quick wickets to stay ahead of the game. That, to the Super Kings’ dismay, did not happen.

Playing his first ever game for KKR, Ajinkya Rahane turned back the clock as he struck delightful boundaries to get the Knight Riders’ innings up and running. Rahane began his innings with a vintage drive off the fourth ball of the chase, bowled by Tushar Deshpande, and the early boundary proved to be the shot in the arm he needed. The veteran never looked back from there and showed intent aplenty as raced off to 44 off his first 33 balls before falling six short of a fifty on KKR debut. 

His partner Venkatesh Iyer, originally expected to be the aggressor, did not enjoy the greatest of outings as he managed 16 off his first 15 balls before being bamboozled by DJ Bravo, but the scratchy knock did not affect KKR thanks to Rahane.

At the halfway point, the Knight Riders were well-placed at 76/2 but then came a slightly concerning phase for Shreyas Iyer’s side as the CSK spinners strangled the batters, Jadeja and Santner getting into the action in the second half of the second innings. 

However, after a mini-blip that saw Rana and Rahane perishing in the span of 10 balls, mature knocks from Sam Billings (25) and Iyer (20*) took the Knight Riders home and subsequently gave the latter his first win as the skipper of the franchise.