Sam Billings’ blinder, 56 off 23, gave CSK the impetus in the final overs. (Source: BCCI)
Billings blitz
Sam Billings was awestruck, when Chennai Super Kings picked him for Rs 1 crore at the IPL 2018 auction. That he would be sharing the dressing-room with MS Dhoni reportedly gave the 26-year-old Englishman goosebumps. On a day, when CSK returned home after two years, Billings rose to stardom with a match-winning 23-ball 56, while his captain looked a pale shadow of his past. Dhoni’s laboured 28-ball 25 pushed his team on the precipice, with 203 being the victory target. Billings, in for the injured Kedar Jadhav, snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.
The ‘yellow army’ went on the celebration overdrive, when Ravindra Jadeja sent Vinay Kumar about 20 rows back over long-on to seal an incredible five-wicket win, with one ball remaining. Billings’ Man of the Match performance made it happen.
To be fair, CSK had been going great guns in their reply, thanks to an excellent opening partnership between Shane Watson and Ambati Rayudu. Watson raced to 42 off 19 balls before getting out. Rayudu, too, was going with a strike-rate of over 200. CSK were 75/1 after Powerplay. KKR captain, Dinesh Karthik, however, had Sunil Narine and Kuldeep Yadav up his sleeve. They started bowling in tandem. Yadav removed Rayudu, Narine snapped up Suresh Raina. Yadav conceded only 13 runs in his first spell of two overs. Together they were choking the hosts. But Billings went gung-ho, and Karthik probably missed a trick by not giving Yadav his full quota of four overs
Russell blast
Andre Russell had missed the last year’s IPL for doping violation. Still, KKR chose to retain him, along with Narine. Their team-building strategy this term was simple— an overload of T20 specialists, with the two Caribbeans, Narine and Russell, providing the X-factor.
The Jamaican has made some technical adjustments to his batting. He is staying still and low till the point of release. On a sluggish pitch, the alterations proved to be effective. Twice he went down on one knee to get the elevation, off Shardul Thakur and Dwayne Bravo respectively. On another occasion, he waited till the last moment to clear his front leg and hammer a low full-toss from Bravo over long-on. The latter had been CSK’s match-winner against Mumbai Indians, first with his death bowling followed sensational back-end hitting. . On home turf, he returned with 0/50 from three overs, conceding seven sixes. Six of those sixes had been given away in nine balls.Russell came to the crease at the fall of Rinku Singh’s wicket. At 89/5, KKR were in trouble. The big man didn’t have the licence to throw the kitchen sink. So he waited patiently for Watson to bowl a half-volley to hit his first four. A six off Bravo two overs hence triggered the explosion. Thakur had been accounted for consecutive maximums followed by two sixes against Bravo and then a hat-trick of over-boundaries.
Brief Scores: CSK 205 for 5 (Billings 56, Watson 42) beat KKR 202 for 6 (Russell 88*) by five wickets.