The Chennai Super Kings playbook has one abiding formula: a top-order contribution, a blitz from the finishers and a strangle by the spinners. Brendon McCullum took care of objective one with his third half-century in five matches, MS Dhoni swung his bat around to lift the total to 148 in a rain-reduced match and Ravindra Jadeja swindled 4 for 12 to down Kolkata Knight Riders with ease.
Robin Uthappa, who opened for Knight Riders, posed the greatest threat with his execution matching his intent. He crunched four fours and a six on either side of losing his partner Gautam Gambhir in the third over. He was conscious to use his feet, unafraid of going aerial and the reverse sweep was a trusted weapon as well. But his strokeplay coincided with a dreadful collapse at the other end.
The introduction of spin left Knight Riders at 39 for 4 at the end of the Powerplay, too deep a hole to escape from no matter how long Yusuf Pathan managed to biff the ball down the ground.
The Jadeja-Ashwin combine plucked three wickets in five balls and Knight Riders' middle order was broken inside the powerplay. Uthappa waged his battle until he became Jadeja's fourth victim to hand the left-arm spinner with the best figures of the season.
India's leg of the IPL was delayed by an hour of 40 minutes in the face of an unseasonal shower in Ranchi that limited the game to 17 overs a side. Knight Riders utilised spin for the entirety of the powerplay and were encouraged with some help from the pitch. But a persistence in pushing the balls through allowed McCullum to settle and shepherd Super Kings past the loss of Dwayne Smith in the third over.
Piyush Chawla was particularly adamant in refusing to flight the ball. Suresh Raina and McCullum had no qualms with that as they joined hands for a brisk 70-run stand for the third wicket. The introduction of pace did little to stem the run flow as Vinay Kumar fed McCullum with a steady diet of short balls that thudded into the midwicket boundary. The five over spell from the eighth and 12th overs yielded 51 runs for one wicket.
Sunil Narine was his usual miserly self and Super Kings seemed to be running out of gas in the final overs, especially when McCullum was caught in the deep for 56. But some initiative and wayward bowling from Andre Russell, who was brought in for Morne Morkel, allowed the home side to finish on a high.
Those extra runs ensured Yusuf's late pummeling was inconsequential. He blazed three sixes in the penultimate over and each of them gave the fielder no chance. Knight Riders would hope the next time he wields the long handle, the equation will not read 59 off 12.
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