The Chennai Super Kings skipper, Ruturaj Gaikwad, would be relieved at the back of his team's dominant performance in the last two games. After having lost three consecutive games, the Gaikwad-led side bounced back with two consecutive wins against the Delhi Capitals and the Kolkata Knight Riders. This would surely act as a major boost in confidence for the CSK team, especially their bowlers, who played a major role in these wins.
Speaking of the Kolkata Knight Riders, they faced their fourth straight defeat of the season and are left in the last position of the points table, still awaiting their maiden win in the season. Their only points came from a draw against the Punjab Kings, as the game was washed out by rain at the Eden Gardens. The Kolkata batting unit collapsed on another occasion, as the big names like Finn Allen and Cameron Green were once again troubled by the opposition bowlers.
The Chennai Super Kings might have lost a few matches to start with, and their bowling deck was largely compromised. However, it was evident that the CSK batters had never lost their groove, and they would not refrain from scoring crucial runs for them.
After coming out to bat, Sanju Samson hit a hat-trick of fours through the off-side. Soon after, skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad was caught in the deep mid-wicket region after he attempted to take down the KKR spinner Anukul Roy. Ayush Mhatre has been their original star, as he made some great use of the power play and gave CSK the early start that might be the margin of runs for their win after the series ended in the opponent's favour.
Samson then put on another quick partnership between Sanju Samson and Dewald Bevis for the third wicket. However, after Samson’s dismissal, the scoring rate drastically went down, and they could only manage to score runs properly on some of the balls. Sanju Samson has been dominating the format in recent times.
The KKR spinners also had an exciting amount of runs, as the CSK batters struggled to keep up with the rapid flow of runs in the middle order. However, the power play starts, and the firm stands in the middle phases, which helped them most with such a massive target.
KKR continues its IPL losing track record in this season
The Kolkata Knight Riders struggled with a slow start in the powerplay, as they could just manage 36 runs in the powerplay at the loss of two vital wickets. This was also the third-lowest power-play score in this edition of the TATA IPL 2026.
The Kolkata Knight Riders now have some good bowlers, but the batters have failed to chase any decent scores. Despite the likes of Cameron Green, Rinku Singh, and Rovman Powell being part of the KKR XI, they have struggled to maintain their batting form.
Another loss for them, after Ajinkya Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvanshi were dismissed in the match in consecutive overs. CSK, however, missed some crucial catches in the game, which did not have an ultimate impact on the game.
With Khaleel Ahmed and Anshul Kamboj once again stepping up for their team, the Chennai Super Kings restricted them to a score of 160, with Anshul Kamboj sharing the wickets tally with Gujarat Titans pacer Prasidh Krishna.
We needed one batter to bat until deep and then take it in the end - KKR skipper's honest take on his team's performance
"I thought with the ball, we were treated really good. 190 on this wicket was really good, especially the power play what they got, 70 odd runs. After that, pulling back to 190 was an amazing job from our bowling unit. I thought initially with our batting, we just got 36 or 37 runs in the power play. I thought that was really important."
"In the middle phase, hitting spinners was slightly challenging, but apart from that, the wicket was really good. We needed one batter to bat until deep and then take it in the end," said the KKR captain while praising the Knight Riders bowling.
"I think all credit goes to him. I mean, he's working really hard in the nets. He's been bowling really good and a great talent. The pace which he's bowling at the moment has been amazing. So I'm really happy for him. Game by game, he's improving his skills," the KKR coach added.
ALSO READ: IPL Points Table 2026: Updated Standings, Orange Cap, Purple Cap After CSK vs KKR Match 22
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