The Indian Premier League!: Match-26, KKR vs CSK, Eden Gardens, Kolkata

MATCH-26

KKR vs CSK

Venue- Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Match Officials- A.Rauf, A.Choudhary, S.Asnani(Umpires) R.Mukherjee (Refree)

Toss- KKR Won the toss and chose to bat first

Result- CSK won the match by 4 wickets and 5 balls to spare!

Man Of The Match- RAVINDRA JADEJA

Match Report-

The teams who played final last year were ready to face each other in Kolkata. Home team KKR won the toss and chose to bat first. Yusuf Pathan and Gambhir opened the batting. They started off pretty well. CSK again missed Dirk Nannes with the new ball due to injury to him. Albie Morkel, Mohit Sharma leaked few runs at the beginning. At the end of 5th over KKR were cruising at 44/0 ! On he 5th ball of Morris's over, Gambhir tried to play cut shot to a bouncer, it was away from Michael Hussey in the deep, who took excellent catch, diving, to get rid of the captain of KKR! In next over, trying to steal a single, Kallis was ran out without facing a ball. Badrinath directly hit the stumps from point to get rid of the veteran! Bravo's 8th over was even more dramatic. He deceived Morgan with a slower one, Jadeja took the catch. And 2 balls later due to misunderstanding between two batsmen and also due to great athleticism by Bravo, Yusuf Pathan had to walk back, he was run out! Debabrata Das and Manoj Tiwary tried to form some sort of partnership. Das hit Ashwin and Bravo for a six each before he was trapped LBW by Ashwin! Ashwin got rid of Tiwary in 15th over when KKR were struggling at 89/6. Jadeja gave 2 runs and took 2 wickets in the 16th over, getting wickets of Bhatia and Shukla! At that stage it looked as if KKR will be bowled out under 100 runs. But Narine hit 2 sixes, 1 to each spinner but trying to hit third he was held at deep mid wicket by Raina on bowling of Jadeja. Last pair added 12 runs which ended KKR's innings on 119/9!
With run a ball needed, CSK sent in Ashwin with Hussey to try and lift run rate against the quality spinners. He tried his best till he got out in the 5th over, 26/1! After that CSK lost Raina, Vijay and Dhoni in quick succession, leaving their team in trouble. Requiring 64 in last 8 overs, Badrinath joined M.Hussey. But pressure got better of Badrinath, when he got out CSK required 49 in 27 balls. Hussey who was playing cautiously, opened up and hit a six over mid wicket. 40 needed in last 4 overs, Jadeja hit the 1st ball for six,CSK managed 13 runs loosing Hussey in 17th over. Narine came to bowl 18th over, it was a crucial time, but Jadeja hit him for six, straight down the ground and easily took 10 runs from that over. IN Kallis' next over Yusuf Pathan dropped catch of Jadeja. With the help of 3 boundaries in that over, CSK required only 2 runs in last over. Jadeja hit Yusuf Pathan for a six on the first ball of the last over, to finish the match in style!

My Views-

CSK struggled with the new ball. Albie Morkel trying to swing the ball was bowling on the pads of right handers and giving width to left handers. Morris was brilliant. He has been a new pick, CSK picked him to back up Nannes and Morkel but he will play every match now on unless he is injured. Batting order is also a bit of worry for them. They aren't performing consistently. Michael Hussey played fabulous innings, batting through for almost 20 overs, he built the innings when other batsmen were falling from other end! Jadeja has been a revolution for CSK. He is live wire in the field and also bowls full quota of 4 overs picking up at least 1 or 2 wickets every match and with bat he can finish things off, he is a big hitter!

KKR were poor in batting. There was poor running between the wicket. It was more to do with CSK's fielding as well! After the start KKR got, one must have thought that they will reach at least 150 if not more. But they just felt apart.