IPL 7 Match Report: CSK vs. KKR

The IPL finally returned to India with today’s rain curtailed thriller at Ranchi, where a loud, partisan crowd watched local boy Maherndra Singh Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings romp to victory over the Kolkata Knight Riders. In a game that was reduced to 17 overs a side due to unseasonal rain and started at close to ten o’clock local time, Chennai ended up winning comfortably by a 34-run margin, controlling the game from start to finish.

Chennai skipper Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat first, on what appeared to be a flat wicket good for batting. However, the rain started to fall during the toss itself and within a few minutes it was a sizeable downpour that forced the covers to be brought out and it continued for over an hour before abating. By the time the umpires finally declared the pitch safe for play, each side had been reduced to playing 17 overs apiece.

The pitch was expected to favor spinners, and hoping to exploit any residual moisture left in the air from the rain, Kolkata captain Gambhir opened the bowling with Shakib al-Hasan and Sunil Narine. Piyush Chawla was the next man to bowl, as Kolkata looked for the early breakthroughs. With only two bowlers allowed to bowl their full quota of four overs due to the curtailed match, Gambhir rotated his bowlers regularly.

His decision to open with spin was rewarded in the third over, as Dwayne Smith was out LBW to Shakib while trying to hit one shot too many. He went after a quickfire 16, but at the other end opening partner Brendon McCullum was in sublime touch as he regularly found the boundaries off every bowler to keep the scoreboard ticking over. Suresh Raina joined him out in the middle and after a slow start, chipped in with a few boundaries of his own. However, once again he was unable to capitalize on a good start and departed for 31 while going for the big one off Shakib’s bowling, with Suryakumar Yadav taking the catch.

This brought captain MS Dhoni to the crease and this was the moment the crowd had been waiting for, as he was greeted by massive cheers as he walked in. At first, he just rotated the strike for the dangerous McCullum, who brought up his 3rd fifty of this IPL campaign with a few lusty blows, but once he had fallen to Russell for 56, Dhoni unleashed himself on the bowlers, scoring a quickfire 22. He was ably supported by Jadeja, who struck 17 off 10 balls in the last couple of overs to propel Chennai to a respectable 148 for 3.

Kolkata then walked out to bat, knowing that they needed to get off to a good start in order to chase down the Chennai score. In yet another opening combination, Robin Uthappa walked out alongside his captain Gambhir at the top of the order. The team got off to the worst possible start however, as Gambhir, who had finally shown some form with the bat in the last game, fell cheaply in an ugly run out where he was responsible for not communicating properly with his strike partner. He departed for 6.

Chennai then struck three quick blows, as first Ashwin removed Jacques Kallis (4) before Jadeja struck twice in his very first over, dismissing Manish Pandey (1) and Shakib (0) off consecutive deliveries and leaving Kolkata in disarray at 38 for 4. After that, Kolkata were never really in the game. Uthappa played a solid knock, keeping them in the hunt, and tried to rebuild the innings along with Yadav, but Jadeja struck again, removing both Yadav (8) and also Uthappa (47) to finish with figures of 4-12 and effectively end the game as a contest.

Some late hitting from Yusuf Pathan revived hopes of an unlikely comeback, but the asking rate had accelerated steeply, and Mohit Sharma made short work of the tail, first dismissing Andre Russell (1), before accounting for both Chawla (1) and Yusuf Pathan (41) in the last over of the innings. Kolkata only managed to make a total of 114-9, handing Chennai a comfortable win.

This was Chennai’s 5th consecutive win, keeping them in 2nd place on the points table while Kolkata have lost each of their last three games. Ravindra Jadeja was declared Man of the Match for his match winning spell of 4-12, while Mohit Sharma managed to claim the Purple Cap for himself after bagging three wickets in the game, taking his tally for the tournament to 11.