Kolkata's victory chariot stopped, KKR could not fight in Dhoni's neighborhood, Knights lost by 7 wickets
KKR lost their unbeaten streak in the fourth match of IPL. Shreyas did not top the points table as they lost to Chennai. On the other hand, after two matches, relief came back to Dhoni’s camp.
Chipak’s 22 yards surprised T20 cricket lovers. From the beginning, the ball stopped coming to the bat. The Kolkata Knight Riders batsmen looked tough on the pitch but Chennai Super Kings’ innings looked different. Batting first after losing the toss, Kolkata Knight Riders scored 137 runs for 9 wickets. In reply, Chennai Super Kings scored 141 runs for 3 wickets in 17.4 overs. 25 crore Mitchell Starc also played on the supporting pitch for the bowlers. KKR could not fight in the neighborhood of Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Apart from Sunil Narine and Angkrish Raghuvanshi, none of KKR’s batsmen could bat in the mood of T20 cricket. Phil Salt (not out) was dismissed by Tushar Deshpande on the first ball of the innings. Narine-Raghuvanshi added 56 runs for the second wicket. After breaking this pair, KKR’s innings progressed practically. Everyone was uncomfortable in front of Rabindra Jadeja, Mustafizur Rahman’s ball. Shreyas Iyer brought the team to a fighting position by keeping one side of the pitch under pressure.
Jadeja gave a big push to bowl in the seventh over of Kolkata’s innings. He dismissed Raghuvanshi and Narine in the space of three balls. As a result, Kolkata went from 56 for 1 wicket to 60 for 3 wickets. Narine made 27 off 20 balls. Hit 3 fours and 2 sixes. 24 off 18 balls from Raghuvanshi’s bat. He hit 3 fours, 1 six. KKR could not handle this pressure till the end of the innings. Later, Benkatesh Iyer (3), Ramandeep Singh (13), Rinku Singh (9), Andre Russell (10) failed.
Starc’s contribution with the bat is zero. Shreyas fought alone. He made 34 off 32 balls with 3 fours. At the end of the 22 yards, there were Nukum Roy (3) and Vaibhav Arora (1). Apart from the second wicket, KKR could not make any pair of big runs. Shreyas’ entire innings had 11 fours and 4 fours.
The bowlers of Chennai bowled according to the character of the pitch. Jadeja took 3 wickets with 18 runs. Tushar’s 3 wickets for 33 runs. Mustafizur gave a surprise in the last over. KKR scored 2 runs in the 20th over. Lost 2 wickets. Bangladesh’s strong bowler took 2 wickets for 22 runs. 1 wicket for 28 runs by Mahish Thikshanar.
Going into bat with a target of 138 runs to win, Chennai also got off to a slow start. However, Starc’s lackluster performance helped Chennai’s innings increase its run rate. Rachin Ravindra lost his wicket to Vaibhav while being aggressive. An innings of 15 runs from 8 balls came from his bat. The New Zealand all-rounder hit 3 fours. Chennai captain Ruturaj Gaikwad played a responsible innings at the other end of the wicket. Daryl Mitchell also accompanied him.
They batted comfortably in the second wicket pair. Namah as KKR’s impact player failed to make any impact in Chennai’s 22 yards. Shreyas could not use him for more than 1 over. KKR’s other bowlers could not create problems either. Narine broke Chennai’s second wicket partnership by dismissing Mitchell. Mitchell scored 25 runs off 19 balls. Hit a four and a six each. Before that, he made an important partnership of 70 runs with Ruturaj. It was the captain who ensured Chennai’s victory with the bat.
He led the team’s innings from the front. Shivam Dubey, who dropped to number four, gave hope. He scored 28 runs off 18 balls. Hit 1 four, 3 sixes. Ruturaj eventually remained unbeaten on 67 off 58 balls. 9 fours came from his bat. Dhoni also came down with the bat in the last over. He remained unbeaten by 1 run. The former India captain, who won two World Cups, did not get the winning run despite the opportunity. Ruturaj won the hearts of cricket lovers by allowing him to score the winning run.
Among the Kolkata bowlers, Starc bowled 3 overs and gave 29 runs. Varun Chakraborty gave 26 runs. 12 runs in 1 favorable over. Narine took 1 wicket for 30 runs. The most successful Vaibhav got 2 wickets with 28 runs.
