NEW DELHI: Ravindra Jadeja displayed his expertise on the demanding Chepauk pitch as the Chennai Super Kings reclaimed their winning form, securing a comfortable seven-wicket victory over the Kolkata Knight Riders in Monday’s IPL clash.
This triumph marked CSK’s third win in five matches, all achieved at Chepauk, following two consecutive losses away from home.
Jadeja, whose spin bowling had appeared subdued in recent seasons, dominated by taking three wickets in just eight deliveries, effectively dismantling KKR’s batting lineup. KKR struggled to a total of 137 for 9 on a surface where scoring freely proved challenging.

In the pursuit, captain Ruturaj Gaikwad‘s composed 67 off 58 balls spearheaded the charge, supported by contributions from Daryl Mitchell (25 off 19 balls) and the in-form Shivam Dube (28 off 18 balls). CSK reached the target in 17.4 overs without much difficulty.
Significantly, Mahendra Singh Dhoni was at the crease when they sealed the victory with the winning runs.

The match was a typical one from the KKR playbook, where they always apply the choke with their spinners on a surface where the ball grips and then their top-order controls the chase which is within manageable limits like it was on Monday.

Earlier, Jadeja worked his magic, ripping the heart out of KKR’s batting.

Having lost back to back games on the road, CSK were back in their element on a familiar Chepauk turf where the ball gripped and allowed Jadeja (3/18 in 4 overs) and Maheesh Theeksana (1/28 in 4 overs) were absolutely brilliant with both their line and length. While KKR lost Phil Salt (0) cheaply off the very first delivery, Sunil Narine (27 off 20 balls) and young Angkrish Raghuvanshi (24 of 18 balls) continued from where they had left against DC, chancing their arms and adding 56 in Powerplay but once spinners came into operation it all fell apart.

With the ball gripping and not coming onto the bat, Narine’s lofted shot was holed out in the deep and Raghuvanshi’s inexperience became his undoing as he played an indiscreet reverse sweep to a straight delivery.

Venkatesh Iyer (3) was ill at ease against Theekshana, who got his mojo back after being hit for two sixes in his first over and then Jadeja got his man, who wanted to slog out of trouble.
With three wickets in eight balls, Jadeja seemed to snatch the momentum decisively in favour of CSK.
Shreyas Iyer (34 off 32 balls) never got going and Rinku Singh (9 off 14 balls) and Andre Russell (10 off 10 balls) couldn’t up the ante as the canny Mustafizur Rahman (2/22) and Tushar Deshpande (3/33) were fantastic at the death.
The KKR batters tried going hammer and tongs but the moment Jadeja came in after Powerplay, suddenly it seemed that pace off the track had vanished.
Both took pace off the deliveries and bowled wide lines which was out of the hitting range of the two finishers. The catching in the deep was also top notch for CSK as KKR batters had a forgettable day in office.
(With inputs from PTI)