In the 22nd match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, Ruturaj Gaikwad-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) hosted Shreyas Iyer-led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Monday 8 of April.
Chennai Super Kings won the toss and opted to bowl first in the match. They made three massive changes to their playing XI with Deepak Chahar missing out and Mustafizur Rahman, Shardul Thakur and Sameer Rizvi returning. While KKR decided to field an unchanged team.
CSK got off to a good start in the match when Tushar Deshpande cleaned up Phil Salt on the first delivery. The right-arm quick then gave away 19 runs in his second over, and after putting up a good fight, KKR finished at 56/1 at the end of the powerplay.
However, CSK bowlers made a sensational comeback in the match and slowed down the net velocity of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by picking up wickets at regular intervals. From being at 56/1, Knight Riders moved to 99/5 in 15 overs. With the powerful batting line-up, expectations were for KKR to score heavily in the final overs to end their innings on a high.
Unfortunately for KKR, that did not happen as the CSK players got their lines and lengths right and restricted the opposition to 137/9. The top scorer in the first innings was Shreyas Iyer, who amassed 34 runs, and the top bowler was Ravindra Jadeja, who bagged three wickets for 18 runs.
Chasing the target, Rachin Ravindra, who has been going through a rough patch, tried to go crazy from the first ball and got out after scoring 15 runs. The hosts then took control of the match as captain Ruturaj Gaikwad joined forces with Daryl Mitchell to hammer 70 runs to knock KKR out of the match.
Mitchell was dismissed for 25 and Shivam Dube departed after playing an entertaining knock of 28 runs. Meanwhile, Ruturaj Gaikwad (67) remained unbeaten till the end and along with MS Dhoni (1), guided Chennai Super Kings to a magnificent 7-wicket win.
With Jinx injured, the responsibility fell on me – Ruturaj Gaikwad on Ajinkya Rahane
At the post-match presentation ceremony, Ruturaj Gaikwad said that finishing the match with MS Dhoni while completing his first fifty as captain was quite nostalgic as the same thing happened when he completed his first fifty as a CSK player. He explained:
“A bit of nostalgia for me. On my first IPL fifty, Mahi bhai was with me to finish the match.”
Ruturaj Gaikwad further revealed some sad news for Chennai Super Kings fans, saying that Ajinkya Rahane suffered an injury, which was the reason why he did not come to bat at number 3. Ruturaj Gaikwad said:
“With Jinx injured, the responsibility to move forward fell on me, I didn’t want to put the youngsters in a difficult situation. It was a 150-160 field.”
Ruturaj Gaikwad further praised Ravindra Jadeja and said that he does not need to guide his players much as all of them are quite experienced. Ruturaj Gaikwad ssid:
“Jaddu always comes in after the power play with momentum in the spin department. With this team, I don’t really need to tell anyone things. Everyone is in a great mental space, Mahi bhai and Fleming are still there to make those decisions.” .
Ruturaj Gaikwad signed off by talking about his batting and strike rate in T20. He said:
“I wouldn’t say mine is a slow start, in T20s there are times when you cut one or two balls, sometimes you need a bit of luck to start, maybe it’s something the experts talk about, with my strike rate (laughs).) “