Following the win over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) spinner Sunil Narine said that this season pitches have been good for batters, who have more leeway due to the ‘Impact Player’ rule.
Crucial fifties from Rinku Singh and Nitish Rana kept KKR’s playoffs hope alive as they registered 6 wickets victory over CSK at MA Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday. “(On his performance today) Probably the pitch helped, was just trying to use the conditions as best I could. (On why he has struggled at times this season) The pitches are good, and with the extra player coming in the batters have more leeway, but we need to plan accordingly to counter that. You can plan and you can innovate, but sometimes it is just about keeping it as simple as possible and enjoying your wicket,” said Narine in a post-match presentation.
In 13 matches this season, Narine has taken nine wickets at an average of 39.44 and an economy rate of 8.06. His best bowling figures are 3/33.
CSK opted to bat first and were restricted to 144/6 in their 20 overs. Solid knocks came from Shivam Dube (48* in 34 balls), Devon Conway (30 in 28 balls) and Ravindra Jadeja (20). There was a 68-run partnership for the sixth wicket between Dube and Jadeja.
Sunil Narine was the pick of the bowlers for KKR, taking 2/15 in his four overs. Spinner Varun Chakravarthy (2/36) also got a couple of wickets. Vaibhav Arora and Shardul Thakur got a wicket each.
In the chase of 145, KKR at one stage was 33/3. Then a 99-run stand between skipper Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh brought KKR back into the game. Nitish slammed an unbeaten 57 in 44 balls, consisting of six fours and a six while Rinku scored 54 off 43 balls, with four boundaries and three sixes. KKR chased down the total in 18.3 overs with six wickets in hand.
Deepak Chahar (3/27) was the pick of the bowlers for CSK and did initial damage to KKR’s top order.
CSK is in the second position with seven wins, five losses and one no result. They have a total of 15 points. KKR is at seventh with six wins, seven losses and 12 points in total.
Rinku was given the ‘Player of the Match’ for his fifty. (ANI)
