Ajinkya Rahane, who leads the Kolkata Knight Riders, recently shared his insights on the Chepauk pitch after the team’s recent match. He pointed out that he, along with Moeen Ali and mentor Dwayne Bravo, had a solid understanding of how the pitch would play out, given their time spent with the Chennai Super Kings. But he kept their game plan under wraps, not wanting to spill any secrets.
On the other side of the field, things weren’t looking too great for the Chennai Super Kings. They faced another tough loss, marking their fifth straight defeat in IPL 2025. This particular match was notable because the team legend, MS Dhoni, stepped up to lead after their regular captain, Ruturaj Gaikwad, was sidelined due to an injury.
Rahane spoke at the post-match presentation, mentioning the strategies they had in place. I’ve been here the last two years and so has Moeen. DJ knows the conditions well too. The pitch was a bit tricky, and the ball wasn’t coming onto the bat nicely. We have to give it up to the spinners, they performed just how we wanted, he said.
He acknowledged that there’s still a lot of the tournament left to play. “I’d rather not get into too many specifics about our strategies. Initially, I thought the pitch would be a good one for scoring, maybe around 170 runs. But you have to give credit to the bowlers for the way they bowled, Rahane added.
Rahane made sure to compliment the spinners, who were crucial in taking six out of nine wickets that fell from the Chennai side. Sunil Narine had a particularly outstanding game, recording figures of 3 wickets for just 13 runs. He managed to dismiss key players like Rahul Tripathi, Ravindra Jadeja, and even managed to get Dhoni out.
He noted, Moeen played really well. It’s tough to jump back in after sitting out a game, but he managed it. Sunny and Varun also did a great job. Sunny faced a bit of trouble in the last match but rebounded strongly today.
Overall, Rahane felt good about his team’s bowling performance, saying, It was a solid showing from the bowlers. Dhoni, unfortunately, only managed to get one run from four deliveries before getting out in the 16th over after coming in at number nine.
On the batting side for Kolkata, chasing down a low score of 104 was a breeze, with Narine smashing an impressive 44 runs off just 18 balls, which included two boundaries and five sixes. It was a strong performance that put them back on track in the tournament.
