What happened the last time KKR played against CSK in Chepauk?
The mercuriality has given room to consistency for the Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2024, with the side firing with all cylinders.
The arrival of talisman Gautam Gambhir brought calmness into the dressing room, which seemed to be missing from their DNA for almost a decade.
The KKR outfit is more or less the same as last year, so what really changed suddenly that they find themselves in the top 2 of the points table without losing a single point?
Role clarity: Gambhir didn't change the personals but the mindset and clarity of the roles he assigned have been working like a charm. He has his own methods, which seem to be working absolutely fine for the Kolkata Knight Riders so far.
But it's not going to be easy for KKR when they go against a formidable Chennai Super Kings unit on Monday (April 8). CSK will be itching to bring their campaign back on track after losing two matches on a trot at Chepauk. Both teams are stacked with match-winners and shrewd tacticians in their camp.
CSK will be hoping that Matheesha Pathirana and Mustafizur Rahman are available for selection, as their absence has adversely affected the side's balance in the tournament.
Especially Mustafizur, who will once again hold the key for the Chennai Super Kings Chepauk, as batters have struggled to deal with his cutters and change of pace in IPL 2024.
What happened the last time KKR played against CSK in Chepauk?
KKR has the upper hand with their current form but also have a psychological advantage over the CSK, with them winning their last encounter against the hosts in Chennai. Having said that, let's have a look at what actually transpired when KKR played against CSK in the IPL 2023 at Chepauk.
In order to keep their playoff chances alive in the IPL 2023, both KKR and CSK locked horns at Chepauk to get those vital two points in their kitty.
When CSK skipper MS Dhoni decided to bat first on what looked like a dry surface, it looked like a typical 150 CSK game, with the spinners coming into the game in the second inning.
Chennai's openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway went berserk against the new ball, with the score crossing the 50-run mark inside the powerplay (considering the surface).
But then the usual suspects Sunil Narine and Varun Chakrabarthy brought KKR back into the game, with the "Yellow Army" slipping from 61/1 to 72/5 inside 10 overs.
Had it not been for Shivam Dube's vigilante innings of 48 runs (off just 34 balls), CSK would not have had any means to cross the 120-run mark, let alone post a fighting total of 144/6 runs on the board.
But as even Dhoni admitted himself later, it wasn't even close to the par score when the pitch got settled down. In the second innings, the dew didn't help the side's cause either.
KKR had a great chance to breach the fortress of CSK but Deepak Chahar had other ideas.
Chahar moved the ball both ways and with his immaculate length, it was very difficult to score against him. He used every available ounce of juice from the pitch and dismissed Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Venkatesh Iyer, and Jason Roy in the powerplay to push the Kolkata Knight Riders on the back foot at 33/3.
It all came down to the Messiah of KKR in IPL 2023, Rinku Singh, to once again bail them out along with skipper Nitish Rana. But it wasn't going to be an easy task against the CSK spin troika of Ravindra Jadeja, Moeen Ali, and Maheesh Theekshana.
Both left-handers were suspected of struggling against Moeen and Theekshana, with the duo spinning the ball away from them continuously.
Rinku and Rana weathered the initial storm and cautiously played out the off-spinners duo. They picked out their bowlers to stitch together a 99-run partnership between them to seal the game for their side, with both completing their respective half-centuries.