IPL 2022: CSK lose opener to KKR, is captaincy change from MS Dhoni to Ravindra Jadeja to be blamed?

Two skippers who made their debut – Ravindra Jadeja and Shreyas Iyer –  for their respective sides saw extreme results as Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) avenged their 2021 season final defeat against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday. 

CSK had got off to a bad start after they were asked to bat first. The side lost quick wickets and only Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s unbeaten half-century proved to be Chennai’s saving grace.

For KKR, all the batsmen scored with veteran batter Ajinkya Rahane being the highest scorer with 44 runs. Venkatesh Iyer (16), Nitish Rana (21), Sam Billings (25) all helped reach the 131 runs target as they won by 6 wickets.

Skipper Shreyas Iyer (20*) and keeper Sheldon Jackson (3*) were the batters who made sure to finish the game in 18.3 overs. Talking about CSK’s bowling department, Dwayne Bravo was the pick of the bowler as he send back three KKR batters. He even equalled the tally of the most wickets in the history of IPL. 

Most wickets in IPL:

170 L Malinga/ D Bravo

166 A Mishra

157 P Chawla

150 Harbhajan

Earlier, Dhoni scored 50, while CSK skipper Jadeja scored 26* after they faced the early loss of wickets. The Chennai outfit had a horrible start as opener Ruturaj Gaikwad was sent back to the dugout on the third delivery of the game by Umesh Yadav for a duck. Devon Conway soon followed and was then joined by Robin Uthappa, leaving the team’s total at 28/2, in 5 overs. 

Uthappa tried to anchor the innings with Ambati Rayudu but had to depart after scoring 28 runs, as he got caught by Sheldon Jackson on Varun Chakaravarthy’s delivery. Following Uthappa’s dismissal, Rayudu got run out, which was then followed by Shivam Dube`s wicket by Andre Russell, with the team`s total at 61/5.

Later, Jadeja and Dhoni joined hands and the duo ensured that there was no further damage in their team`s batting line-up. They played a quick partnership of 70 runs and brought CSK to the total of 131/5 in 20 overs.

Captaincy change to be blamed?

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) had announced that Jadeja will lead the team in IPL 2022 and the announcement had come on Thursday afternoon when the franchise confirmed it. Jadeja became only the third captain to lead CSK after Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Suresh Raina.

Surely, a lot will be spoken about the captaincy of Jadeja, especially as the all-rounder has to fill the shoes of MS Dhoni. Many netizens had reacted especially after CSK had lost quick wickets.

READ | CSK fans believe captain Ravindra Jadeja ‘sabko out karake akele match jeetega’

Jadeja had not led a cricket team since his U19 days for Saurashtra in 2007 and hence many did not expect this to happen. All believed that if Dhoni was to give up the captaincy, it would go the Raina, but the latter was not taken by any team during the IPL 2022 mega-auction.

In fact, in the history of sporting events, it has been known that having two different captaining brains could lead to having different ideas and different pathways. And this has surely been reflected in CSK’s result of the first game of this season.

After losing the opening game to KKR, they will next face a new team Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) which will be led by KL Rahul. With the league having 10 teams, the competition will also increase and Jadeja would have to make sure the side’s Net Run Rate 

(Inputs from ANI)