How KKR Tactically Outsmarted CSK In IPL 2022 Season Opener

In the first match of the IPL 2022, Kolkata Knight Riders(KKR) comfortably defeated defending champions Chennai Super Kings(CSK) by six wickets. KKR dominated CSK right from the first over till the end of the game. There was no phase where CSK had an upper hand. 

The problem for CSK began with the unavailability of Moeen Ali and Deepak Chahar, most importantly the former. We'll come to that part later. 

CSK Playing XI - Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Robin Uthappa, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja (c), Shivam Dube, MS Dhoni (wk), Dwayne Bravo, Mitchell Santner, Adam Milne, Tushar Deshpande

KKR Playing XI - Venkatesh Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer (c), Nitish Rana, Sam Billings, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Sheldon Jackson (wk), Umesh Yadav, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakaravarthy

KKR captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and opted to field first considering the dew factor in Mumbai that'll continue to play a huge role throughout the season. 

Umesh Yadav The Powerplay Bowler 

Yadav's ability to move the new ball with pace was always on the mind of the KKR think tank and they deployed him straightaway in the first match of the season. The India fast bowler, although inconsistent, was KKR's best bet against CSK's openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway; one starts slowly, and the other struggles against high pace. Both got out inside the powerplay facing Umesh, who bowled three overs inside the powerplay and conceded just 12 runs. 

Varun-Narine Early Choke 

KKR brought in Varun Chakaravarthy in the final over of the powerplay and Sunil Narine in the next over against Robin Uthappa and Ambati Rayadu. While Uthappa was in momentum and usually is, in the powerplay, he tends to slow down against spin and the same is the case for Rayudu in recent times. 

Bringing on both the spinners early worked as the two got out (Rayudu was run out but struggling to rotate the strike before). The duo's wicket brought in Shivam Dube and Ravindra Jadeja at the crease. Dube doesn't start well against seam and Andre Russell was brought in and immediately got him out. 

This is where CSK missed Moeen Ali the spin hitter a lot. Had he survived Umesh's spell in the powerplay, Ali's numbers against spin are massive (SR of 145.74) which would have made Shreyas Iyer think about introducing both Varun and Narine together. 

With CSK struggling at 61/5 in 11 overs, MS Dhoni and Jadeja had to slow things down and attack in a calculative manner that meant taking things down to the last three overs. Dhoni smacked Russell and Mavi in the backend of the inning to get CSK to 131/5 but that was too low to make KKR struggle in the runchase. 

Deepak Chahar's Unavailability 

Chahar has been out and out used as a powerplay specialist by CSK but his unavailability meant they had to go in with Tushar Deshpande, who does swing the ball but couldn't provide the same control as Deepak. 

Both Ajinkya Rahane and Venkatesh Iyer got the ball nicely onto the bat and gave a good start to KKR, scoring 43 without losing any wicket in the powerplay. 

CSK's Spin Problem 

With Moeen not there, CSK started with two SLAs - Jadeja and Mitchell Santner. Both aren't attacking spinners and don't bring in much variety. After Iyer got out, Nitish Rana the spin hitter walked in at number three to face two SLAs operating. 

With Rahane slowing down to spin, Rana took on the spinners and scored 21 off 17. 

The game was in KKR's control and even though both Rana and Rahane departed before the 12th over, Shreyas Iyer and Sam Billings only had to chase run-a-ball and they did it quite comfortably. 

Also Read: IPL 2022 - Scorecard

Their comfort was also due to a possible tactical blunder of not getting Adam Milne against these two. Both Iyer and Billings aren't the most comfortable facing high pace early in the inning but CSK continued with two SLAs and DJ Bravo (who was brilliant but didn't get much support from others).