A stellar comeback in the latter half of the second innings saw Kolkata beat Chennai by 10 runs and climb to third in the Indian T20 League standings.
Here are the key talking points from the contest.
Tripathi’s terrific knock
After batting at No. 8 in his maiden appearance this season in Kolkata’s defeat at the hands of Delhi in their previous match, Rahul Tripathi was promoted straight to the top of the order for this match against Chennai and the decision proved to be a masterstroke as the 29-year-old smashed 81 off 51 balls. Such was the importance of Tripathi’s innings that Kolkata’s next highest run-scorers were Sunil Narine and Pat Cummins who both scored 17 off nine balls. A match-winning knock from the Maharashtra-native.
A disastrous performance from Chennai’s middle-order
Chennai were cruising at 98/1 midway through the 11th over and needed just 70 off 50 balls to register back-to-back wins for the first time this season. However, Ambati Rayudu’s dismissal in the 12th over started a collapse that they simply couldn’t recover from. Over the next 43 balls after Rayudu’s return to the pavilion, Chennai scored a measly 44 runs while losing four wickets. An awful performance from the middle order that cost Chennai the match.
Pat’s justifying his price tag
Since his disastrous debut with the ball against Mumbai, where he conceded 49 in just three overs, Pat Cummins has been terrific for Kolkata. In his 15 overs since, the Australian pacer has conceded just 106 runs, a terrific economy rate of 7.06. Cummins has been quite handy with the bat as well and scored 67 runs at a strike rate of 191.42. Kolkata broke the bank to acquire his services and are now reaping the rewards.
Jadeja’s baffling batting position
Despite scoring 94 runs in just 59 balls this season, Ravindra Jadeja continues to bat behind Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav and even Sam Curran in most matches in Chennai’s batting order. The all-rounder has outscored both Curran and Jadhav this season and has just eight fewer runs in 20 fewer balls than Dhoni but still remains behind the trio in the batting order. With all three struggling for form with the bat, it is baffling that Chennai continue to let them bat ahead of Jadeja who seemingly has looked in better nick this season.
Feature image courtesy: Twitter.com / @Indian T20 League
