KKR’s Quinton De Kock plays a shot against CSK during the Tata IPL match between Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders at M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk in Chennai on Friday.
| Photo Credit: JOTHI RAMALINGAM B
Chennai Super Kings came into Friday’s (April 11, 2025) contest against Kolkata Knight Riders on the back of four consecutive defeats, desperately needing a dose of inspiration to resurrect its IPL 2025 campaign.
However, against a disciplined Knight Riders’ bowling performance, CSK plummeted to a new low as it managed only a paltry 103 for nine after being put in to bat.
At that point, the match was all but done and dusted, and the defending champion made short work of the target by romping home to a comfortable eight-wicket win in the 11th over.
On a pitch that gripped and offered turn, KKR’s spinners justified their skipper’s decision to bowl first and scythed through the hosts’ batting line-up, leaving the packed house at the MAC Stadium stunned in disbelief.
Moeen Ali applied the choke in the PowerPlay and later Sunil Narine (4-0-13-3) and Varun Chakaravarthy
(4-0-22-2) further tightened the screws in the middle phase, scalping five wickets between them.
In what has become a recurring theme for the five-time champion this season, the batters looked clueless, scoring just eight boundaries and a six while playing out a staggering 61 dot balls.
In the sixth over, Vijay Shankar infused some life into the innings, hitting consecutive boundaries off
Varun as Super Kings meandered to 31 for two.
The Tamil Nadu batter then slog-swept Moeen over midwicket for the only six of the innings but perished trying to do the same against Varun. From there on, it was a procession of wickets and the Men in Yellow was restricted to its lowest total at Chepauk. The ineptness of the batters came to the fore when the home team failed to score a boundary between the ninth and 18th over.
In reply, Quinton de Kock and Narine (44) made it look like they were batting on a different pitch, tonking
five sixes in the first four overs, pulling pacers and spinners alike with disdain.
And when Narine and skipper Ajinkya Rahane plundered 18 off Khaleel Ahmed to take their team to 71 for one in the PowerPlay, it exposed the stark contrast between the two outfits. The result: CSK slumped to its fifth straight defeat for the first time in its history.
Published – April 11, 2025 07:45 pm IST
Content Source: www.thehindu.com