Ravindra Jadeja's all-round brilliance lifts CSK to top of table
The allrounder hammered a 28-ball 62, took 3-13, and effected a run-out against RCB
The allrounder hammered a 28-ball 62, took 3-13, and effected a run-out against RCB
Scorer: Venkat Raghav | Commentator: Varun Shetty
7.44pm That is all from our coverage of this game, make sure to go over to SRH vs DC, where Prithvi Shaw is setting the powerplay alight.
Jadeja: [Has he had a better day?] Don't think so. (laughs) I've been working hard on my fitness, skill, everything. Luckily it paid off. It's been a tough job being allrounder, you have to do all departments. During training I don't work on all three, I do skill work one day, training one day, fitness one day. I was just looking to hit it hard. Mahi bhai told me he would bowl somewhere outside off and luckily I connected. Today was not my day [because he didn't take a catch].
Ravindra Jadeja is the Player of the Match.
Dhoni: Jaddu is somebody who can change the game on his own. In the last few years we've seen significant change in batting and it's worth it to give him that extra bit of time, extra deliveries. The bowlers have found it difficult to contain left-handers, and that helps as well. You can't really predict the quantum of victory. There's no control to how many runs or wickets. When we started we had the conversation about whether to bat or bowl. It's a good wicket but I felt the spinners had something up their sleeves and I felt that extra few runs Jadeja made helped. 165 would have been par, and once you get 25 extra the opposition has to come a little harder. You cannot make your strategy on the assumption of what dew will do - frankly, some games have been high scoring, some have been low scoring. You have to assess every game and today we made the right decision to bat. We're not doing anything drastically different from what we did last year. Me and Fleming, we keep saying that we focus on the process. You gain more respect if you keep following your path when you're under pressure. I think that is something that gave a lot of confidence to the players. Credit to the players. Everybody would have felt the pressure in the first game because it was a lean season.
Tahir: I've been waiting for the opportunity but the guys have been doing really well. Really grateful to represent CSK again, always a proud moment. I hope I justified my role. I think I just don't wanna look slow on the field because it's easy to pick on me, the age I'm going through. I work hard, don't take things for granted. Really glad I got the run-out for that team. I hope that everyone's noticed that! (laughs) People think with age you get slow, I was a bit slow earlier, first game and it was hot. But I'm pleased, I'll try to give my 100% for the team. [Jadeja] I've seen him bat in the nets, hours and hours, fielding, bowling. Really good on him.
Kohli: You have to look at it the right way. It's come at the right time for us. You have to understand the things that went wrong. I think this is positive feedback for our side. It's good to get a performance like this out of the way early in the season. We were there most of the moments in the game, but the key ones we lost badly. Jaddu displaying his skills took the game away from us. You can probably say one guy beat us. We will continue to give him responsibility [Harshal] he got both the set batsmen out and plucked all the momentum away. We have to look at this in the right way. Brush it aside and learn from it. We will continue to use guys at 3 because we have Maxi and AB to follow. We will continue to use that depth. We'll throw in guys there and ask them to change the game for us. [Jadeja] I am very happy to see him perform with the bat, ball and on the field. Always a pleasure to see your premier all-rounder do well with the bat.
Some sour news for CSK: L Sabaretnam, chairman of Chennai Super Kings board, has passed away due to a heart ailment.
7.16pm RCB have their first loss of the season, and it is a massive one. They were in this game for a lot of their bowling innings. A proper deflation from Jadeja came in the last over, and the powerplay of the chase is the only place they were still in contention. Once again, it was Jadeja who came to haunt them. The wickets of Maxwell and AB de Villiers, and the run-out of Christian pretty much ended RCB's resistance. All in quick time. He finished with three wickets, to go with his 62 off 28, 36 of which came in the last over of the innings. CSK go to the top of the table, RCB drop to second.
Kishore: "Chahal 7 of 20 balls. Is this the slowest innings in T20 in terms of strike rate, where a batsmen faced 20 balls?" --- Third-lowest for such an innings, MS Dhoni is second place
Aravind: "OMG! Where did THAT come from?!"
The allrounder hammered a 28-ball 62, took 3-13, and effected a run-out against RCB
Jadeja hit 62* off 28, then picked up 3 for 13, and also effected a run-out with a direct hit
No side since IPL 2015 has won their first five IPL games. Can CSK stop RCB from achieving that?
He might not be seen as a big-hitter, but the numbers show he's been doing the job for the Super Kings