Sports
Jadeja empowers CSK to end KKR’s early-season invincibility
Chennai Super Kings brought an end to Kolkata Knight Riders’ early-season invincibility on an old-school Chepauk surface. CSK returned home from two defeats on the road and were welcomed by a pitch that allowed them to put on a good old spin choke through Ravindra Jadeja, who picked 3 for 18 in 4 overs.
On a surface where the ball just didn’t come onto the bat, Mustafizur Rahman returned to reclaim the purple cap while Tushar Deshpande was effective too. Ruturaj Gaikwad then found the fluency to his stroke play that had eluded him in the first four games.
Kolkata Knight Riders have been one of the PowerPlay maximisers this season. So it didn’t matter that Tushar Deshpande had Phil Salt caught at point on the first ball of the game as Sunil Narine and Angkrish Raghuvanshi threw their bats around. The first over only fetched a run and just six came off Mustafizur Rahman’s over in the second, but Narine went after Deshpande in the 19-run third over. Shardul Thakur started off his CSK return with a loosener in the fourth over that Raghuvanshi hit for a four, and gave away 11. The two batters then hit a six each against Maheesh Theekshana. Even as Mustafizur bowled well to Narine in the sixth over for just six runs – 56/1 was the most expensive PowerPlay conceded by CSK at home this season.
CSK had picked zero wickets via spin in the first two home games this season. Ravindra Jadeja changed that in his first (and second over) to clip KKR’s wings. Raghuvanshi looked to take him on straight away and attempted a reverse sweep on the first ball, getting trapped leg before. In the same over, Jadeja saw the back of Narine with a full ball outside the off-stump that the left-hander went for a big hit. He ended up slicing the ball which went to Theekshana at long off.
It was one of those games where Ruturaj Gaikwad could bowl Jadeja out at once. Jadeja picked another wicket – of Venkatesh Iyer, with an innocuous half-tracker, and finished with a spell of 3 for 18. The spell also involved 11 dots.
CSK dominated the middle-overs with a spin choke, as Rachin Ravindra sneaked in an over worth four runs too. In the 11th over, when Shreyas Iyer hit a four off Jadeja – it was the first in 34 deliveries. KKR lost their way after the PowerPlay, getting 53/4 in the next 10 overs.
Mustafizur came out on top in the 18th over, with four dots and just one four. One of the dots was even a free hit delivery. Deshpande went round the stumps to bowl with a similar angle to Mustafizur and packed the off-side fence, but Russell pierced that for a four first ball. On the next, Deshpande went short and Russell lined up to clear the long-on fence but failed to clear Daryl Mitchell. This was Deshpande’s third wicket of the game. Mustafizur then bowled an excellent final over, picking two wickets and restricting KKR to 137 for 9.
The new CSK captain shrugged off his underwhelming start to the season and found his timing in the PowerPlay. He drove and cut through covers and point to hit three fours of Anukul Roy before hitting a square drive off Vaibhav Arora, who dismissed Rachin Ravindra in his previous over. Gaikwad’s flurry of boundaries took CSK to 52/1 in 6 overs.
Daryl Mitchell took down Sunil Narine in his first over but Varun Chakravarthy bowled three good overs for just 13 runs. Andre Russell also started well on the sticky surface, only for Ruturaj to swivel-pull him for a four in his first over. Narine too bounced back quickly from a 14-run first over to give away just 10 in his next two and dismiss MItchell.
Gaikwad kept his drives coming and posted his best score at the venue – 67* off 58. Shivam Dube meanwhile, arrived and pulled Mitchell Starc for a four and then slammed Varun Chakravarthy for two sixes to fast-track CSK’s win. Dube’s dismissal in the 17th over meant the Chepauk crowd got the first glimpse of MS Dhoni batting at CSK’s home ground. He came to the middle with just 3 to get and saw it through with his successor in company in the 18th over.
Brief scores:
Kolkata Knight Riders 137/9 in 20 overs (Sunil Narine 27, Angkrish Raghuvarishi 24, Shreyas Iyer 34; Ravindra Jadeja 3-18, Tushar Deshpande 3-33, Mustafizur Rahman 2-22, Maheesh Theekshana 1-28) lost to Chennai Super Kings 141/3 in 17.4 overs (Ruturaj Gaikwad 67*; Daryl Mitchell 25, Shivam Dube 28; Vaibhav Arora 2-28, Sunil Narine 1-30 ) by 7 wickets
(Cricbuzz)
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IPL 2025: Chennai Super Kings suffer fifth loss on the trot as Kolkata Knight Riders register monster win
So that’s what happens when Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) get the kind of pitch their spinners like. Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy and Moeen Ali (12-1-55-6) went into Chepauk and burgled wickets away from the five-time IPL champions until they were a pale, weak shadow of themselves. Chennai Super Kings (CSK) crumbled to 103 for 9, their lowest IPL total at home, suffered a fifth successive defeat, which had never happened before in their entire history, and are marooned in ninth place on the points table. Welcome back to captaincy, MS Dhoni.
The major characteristic of a black-soil pitch is that it is slow and it grips. It felt like home, which is ironic because home hasn’t felt like home for them this season. KKR would prefer to play most of their matches in conditions like this but their efforts to procure them at the Eden Gardens hasn’t gone well. Ajinkya Rahane doesn’t even want to talk about it now. He did, however, spearhead a phenomenal bowling performance. He brought Moeen into the XI and set him loose on CSK’s two left-hand openers. Devon Conway couldn’t overcome the handicap. The KKR offspinner pocketed a wicket maiden. In the next over, Rachin Ravindra was gone. CSK were bleeding by the end of the powerplay, their 31 for 2 only slightly better than the season low of 30 for 3 that they themselves had set, against Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Exposing this CSK team’s middle order is the only thing their oppositions need to do to win against them. Rahul Tripathi was brought in as Ruturaj Gaikwad’s replacement but he couldn’t figure out whether he wanted to hit out or play through and that indecision was reflected in his final score – 16 off 22. Vijay Shankar could have been dismissed for a duck, or for 20, had KKR held onto their catches. Even with those two lives he couldn’t push on to make a big score. Shivam Dube walked out with CSK at 59 for 3. He had faced only 13 balls and that was still enough time for the score to slip to 75 for 8, at which point his team was in danger of recording their lowest total in IPL history.
For the 16th time in his IPL career, Narine bowled his four overs without conceding a boundary. No one, having got through their full quota, has done it more times. He also knocked off Tripathi, who didn’t know which way the ball would turn, and Ravindra Jadeja and MS Dhoni, who didn’t know which way the ball would spin. There was some doubt over the Dhonii lbw, though. UltraEdge showed what looked like faint murmurs as the ball passed the bat.
CSK were being smothered. They had to wait 63 balls between boundaries – only two teams have ever been that emphatically silenced in this tournament – and hit just three after the eighth over (one of them off a top edge). They had to bring in Deepak Hooda as Impact Player, accepting the risk of going in with a bowler short when they would have to defend this total. But even that gamble backfired. Hooda fell for a duck and one of their key players, Matheesha Pathirana, could not take part in the game.
Defending 103 is a thankless job because bowlers tend to go hard searching for wickets and in that process they leak runs. After under-performing in their batting powerplay, CSK underwhelmed with their bowling powerplay. KKR ransacked 71 runs in the first six overs. This game was no contest.
Brief scores:
Kolkata Knight Riders 107 for 2 in 10.1 overs (Sunil Narine 44, Quinton de Kock 23, Ajinkaya Rahane 20*, Rinku Singh 15*; Anshul Kamboj 1-19, Noor Ahmad 1-08) beat Chennai Super Kings 103 for 9 in 20 overs (Devon Conway 12, Rahul Tripathi 16, Vijay Shankar 29, Shivam Dube 31; Sunil Narine 3-13, Varun Chakravarthy 2-22, Harshit Rana 2-16, Moeen Ali 1-20, Vaibhav Arora 1-31) by eight wickets
[Cricinfo]
Egypt forward Mohamed Salah has signed a new two-year contract with Liverpool.
The 32-year-old’s previous deal was scheduled to run out in the summer and there had been doubts he would stay with the Reds following comments from him during the season and speculation linking him with a move to Saudi Arabia.
However, he is staying and will have the chance to add to his 243 goals and 109 assists for the club in 393 appearances.
“Of course I’m very excited – we have a great team now,” said Salah.
“Before also we had a great team. But I signed because I think we have a chance to win other trophies and enjoy my football.
“I have played eight years here, hopefully it’s going to be 10. I’m enjoying my life here, enjoying my football. I have had the best years of my career here.”
Salah has scored 32 goals in all competitions this season, including 27 in the Premier League as the Reds chase a 20th top-flight title. Liverpool are 11 points clear of second-placed Arsenal with seven games remaining.
Salah, who joined Liverpool from Roma in 2017, has won the Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup and Fifa Club World Cup with the Reds.
He was one of three key Liverpool players who will be out of contract this summer, along with right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold and centre-back Virgil van Dijk.
Netherlands defender Van Dijk has said there has been progress on talks over a new deal but Alexander-Arnold has been heavily linked with a move to Real Madrid.
[BBC]
Establish a clean local governance system that utilizes budget allocations transparently for rural development – Prime Minister
Warm Weather Advisory issued for Eastern and Uva provinces and Polonnaruwa and Mullaitivu districts.
IPL 2025: Chennai Super Kings suffer fifth loss on the trot as Kolkata Knight Riders register monster win
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