When Kolkata Knight Riders put a spin choke on Chennai Super Kings in the first half of their clash at Chepauk, Ajinkya Rahane would have been a really happy captain.
And why not? KKR won the toss, opted to field first, knowing that dew will affect the game. On what looked like a good batting track, Anukul Roy and Sunil Narine gave away just 42 runs in 7 overs in exchange for 2 wickets.
KKR conceded only 192 runs on a pitch where it looked like 200–210 could have been par. KKR sent Sunil Narine and Finn Allen to open the innings, hoping that a rollicking start would give them the best possible chance to win the game, and dew after the 10th over would do the rest.
But it all came crashing down after Afghan spinner Noor Ahmad ripped through the team’s batting line-up, picking up 3 wickets for just 21 runs.
| CSK vs KKR, IPL 2026: Highlights | Scorecard |
Noor was named the Player of the Match as KKR sank further into the abyss, losing their fourth game in 5 matches.
This run of form makes it the worst start for Kolkata in the history of the IPL as they continue to search for the answers required to overturn their fortunes this season.
While Noor grabbed the spotlight, CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad perhaps flew under the radar. The captain and the CSK think tank managed their bowlers to perfection, keeping calm heads when the score was not enough.
So, on today’s IPL Play of the Day, we feature CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, who we thought was the difference-maker in the field today.
Gaikwad’s exceptional performance did not come with the bat today. He continued his horrendous run of form with the bat, hitting it straight to Rovman Powell at mid-wicket. Gaikwad was the first to fall, which compounded his four failures that he has seen already in the league.
And that’s what also makes his performance special today: that he was able to separate the entity of being the captain and being a batter in the side.
KKR’S BATTING UNIT
Kolkata Knight Riders tried to throw a curveball at CSK today, opening with the combination of Sunil Narine and Finn Allen. Coming out to bat with Narine was interesting, given he had batted only four balls this season.
The idea behind starting with Narine and Allen was that if the duo had got a few balls from the middle of the bat, they could have given KKR the right start needed for a 193-run chase.
Gaikwad, seeing Narine come out to bat, handed the ball to Khalil Ahmed and Anshul Kamboj in the powerplay, simply asking the duo to keep the ball away from the arc of the batter.
Anshul and Khaleel bowled 5 of the first 6 overs and conceded just 31 runs. In turn, they dismissed both openers, who were ready to go hammer and tongs today.
When Allen and Narine thought their stumps would be attacked, CSK kept the new ball away from the arc of the openers, with the help of slight swing in the air.
Once the openers were out, the obvious ploy was to bring in Noor Ahmed and Akeal Hosein and ask them to get through their spin overs before dew came in.
RUTURAJ HOLDS BACK NOOR’S OVERS
However, Ruturaj did the opposite. He bowled Noor for one over in the 7th and completely took him off the attack.
He asked Akeal Hosein to bowl back-to-back overs from the other end. Hosein used his variety of seam-up balls and traditional off-spinners, never letting the right-handed duo of Ajinkya Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvanshi settle.
A frustrated Rahane broke the shackles in the 9th over, hitting Gurjapneet Singh for two sixes, but that was about it.
Ruturaj loaded Noor’s overs for the second half of the game and introduced him again in the 11th over of the match.
It is important to note that by this time, both batters had already given chances off Akeal’s bowling, and CSK had already dismissed Angkrish in the 10th over.
A desperate Rahane needed to break the shackles and, with the run-rate mounting and spin on both ends, Rahane had no choice but to attack.
The result: caught at extra cover, having misjudged a googly from the left-arm wrist spinner.
Rahane’s wicket brought Cameron Green to the crease. Green, well known for his weakness against spin, could not survive the first ball and got clean bowled by Noor.
Why send in Green when he clearly cannot play spin, one might ask?
That’s because KKR had no choice. They had already dropped the all-rounder down to No. 6, and they simply could not push their Rs 25.20 crore man down further.
Ruturaj knew that and played with KKR’s tactical blunder with perfection.
From there on, it was a cakewalk for the home side as they saw the back of Rinku and Ramandeep Singh to pin the final nail in the coffin for KKR.
The changes in bowling combination worked to perfection, and CSK managed a big win by 32 runs against the 2024 champions.
With the win, CSK moved up to 8th in the league table, with 4 points from 5 matches.
While the world will sing the praises of Noor Ahmad on Wednesday, let it be known that it was an out-and-out effort from Ruturaj Gaikwad, who was able to separate the batter from himself and guide his team to a victory on Tuesday.
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