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IPL 2020 | CSK vs KKR: Jadeja, Gaikwad sour KKR's qualification plans

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Brief scores: 

Kolkata Knight Riders 172/5 in 20 overs (Nitish Rana 87; Lungi Ngidi 2-34) 

lost to 

Chennai Super Kings 178/4 in 20 overs (Ruturaj Gaikwad 72, Ravindra Jadeja 31*; Varun Chakravarthy 2-20) by six wickets.

Chennai Super Kings indulged in some party-pooping shenanigans as Ruturaj Gaikwad's beautiful 72 and cameo king Ravindra Jadeja's 11-ball 31 piloted them home in a fat 173-run chase against Kolkata Knight Riders in the 49th match of the Indian Premier League 2020. Nitish Rana's mesmerizing 87 went into the drain as a KKR loss paved the way for Mumbai Indians to become the first team to qualify for the playoffs. Authors of their own fortune thus far, the men in purple and gold will now have to depend on other results besides winning their last league game against Rajasthan Royals on November 1 in their bid to reach the next level. 

Ruturaj proves his mettle again

Fresh off a morale-boosting fifty against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Ruturaj showed a glimpse of his belonging to the top cadre of India's next-gen cricketers. His sturdy operation wasn't inspired by that of the brute force of a wrestler but the dexterity and craft of a potter. An exemplary loft straight back over the head against a 150kph shooter from Lockie Ferguson twinkled amongst the crowd of sweetly-diamond jewels as Ruturaj frolicked to an aesthetically-pleasing half-century in 37 balls. Ambati Rayudu's 20-ball 38 was a start-stop affair, looking on the top of his game at moments while in a war with himself on others. His greed for more after slamming two boundaries against Pat Cummins led to his exit, putting a full stop to a bubbly 68-run collaboration. 

Chennai don't prefer a plain-sailing ride

CSK have had an uncanny tendency of late which has seen them stay behind the eight ball despite the runs flowing like a breeze. 53 off 36 deemed pretty manageable with a well-set rookie plying his trade with flawless artistry, though CSK made heavy weather of a seemingly facile task. Varun Chakravarthy bowled MS Dhoni neck and crop with a real quick 107kmph skittler. We've surely witnessed that once before. He could've embellished his figures even further but gobbled an absolute sitter of a return chance to reprieve Sam Curran, yet 2-20 wasn't that bad an effort after all. 

Jadeja puts KKR to the sword, literally

What appeared like a walk in the park turned into an obstacle course for CSK with 33 needed off 18 deliveries. The scale tilted drastically in KKR's favour as an ambitious scoop spelt Ruturaj's doom off Pat Cummins, the furniture heading for a toss. Ferguson shouldered the responsibility of the penultimate over with 30 required off a dozen, and he'd actually passed the test with flying colours in the initial three balls before dew came to the fore. The firebrand quick served a jelly of waist-length full-tosses alongside committing the cardinal sin of overstepping as Ravindra Jadeja dipped his hands in glee, ransacking 16 off the last four to keep CSK in the hunt.

The equation dwarfed to 10 off the final over, and again Kamlesh Nagarkoti seemed to be making a great fist of things only to goof up at the eleventh hour. Nerves must have been jangling mad-cap with stuff boiling down to 7 off 2, but dangerman Jadeja swung the hit-me freebies nonchalantly over cow corner to leave the CSK dressing room full of the joys of spring. 

Chennai test their bench strength 

While KKR mixed in the flamboyance of Rinku Singh to leave out Prasidh Krishna, CSK chopped and changed a fair bit. Shane Watson, Lungi Ngidi and Karn Sharma started as Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir and Monu Singh remained inactive. 

Kolkata fluff lines after Rana-Gill sparkle

Opening stands have been a constant thorn in KKR's flesh this year, but Shubman Gill and Nitish Rana weaved an energetic 53-run partnership to ensure that wasn't the case tonight. The left-hander went about his business at only a run-a-ball during the fielding restrictions, but his side must've found solace in the fact that it was the first occasion in the ongoing edition when they cleared the PowerPlay hurdle unscathed. The association was growing in stature when Gill let slip Karn Sharma's slider through his defences for 26. Pinch-hitter Sunil Narine departed without troubling the scorers before Rinku blew his opportunity by choosing the wrong delivery to sweep.

Rana launches cold-blooded assault

Having lurked from within his shell hitherto, Rana finally stepped out to conquer the world after drudging to a 44-ball half-century, KKR's slowest this season. Three dazzling sixes off Sharma's 16th over escalated his strike-rate up by notches while Deepak Chahar bore the brunt of a couple of succinct fours, which propelled the on-song southpaw to his highest IPL score. Lungi Ngidi rolled his fingers across the seam to elicit a top-edge from Rana, with Sam Curran judging the steepler to perfection in the night sky.

The platform was wonderfully established for Eoin Morgan and Dinesh Karthik to go hammer and tongs in the final three, and the experienced heads did their bit rather proficiently to aid the late flourish. One should be content with 66 runs off the eventual five on any given day. It also killed the debate of Karthik's batting position for good measure, the finisher's job of teeing off from the word go extracting the best of his potential.

Dinesh Karthik in IPL 2020

Entry before 10th over: Avg 6.00 | SR 72.73

Entry after 10th over: Avg 40.33 | SR 180.59

More excitement in store?

Ruturaj has proved the mightiest takeaway for CSK with the tournament approaching its business end. They'd aspire to bow out of the league on a high in their collision versus Kings XI Punjab's juggernaut on November 1 in Abu Dhabi. 

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