After contemplating a bit should I or should I not, I made up my mind to see the first game of the 2022 Indian Premier League between last year finalists — champions Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders. I was all excited for the start at the Wankhede Stadium and to my disappointment witnessed a one-sided affair where I felt Chennai just did not turn up.
Yes the toss did not go Chennai’s way, but their batting was a total let down after losing five wickets for 61 runs in 11 overs. A lot was expected of Ruturaj Gaikwad, but he fell without scoring and Devon Conway just couldn’t get going on the sluggish pitch. Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine were hard to get away.
What must be pleasing for the Chennai Super Kings fan was that Mahendra Singh Dhoni got a fifty after two seasons and the team scored 47 off the last three overs to take them to a respectable, but below-par total. Ajinkya Rahane showed how to bat on this wicket by scoring a fluent 44 of 34 balls and Shreyas Iyer, the captain, finished the game with nine balls to spare and give the runners-up of last year a good start and a revenge of last year’s loss in Dubai final.
Chennai, in the second game, will be boosted by the return of Moeen Ali, but Ravindra Jadeja will have his work cut out as he must be wanting a victory under his belt soon. On the other hand, Shreyas Iyer must be happy to begin with a win in his first game for his new franchise Kolkata Knight Riders.
