Leading with three wickets against PBKS, Ravindra Jadeja showed he is an absolute-class player: Aaron Finch

Ravindra Jadeja's yet another show of all-round heroics propelled Chennai Super Kings to a much-needed win in Dharamshala, pushing them back into the top four of the IPL 2024 points table. Jadeja starred with the bat with his 43 off 26 and backed it with three wickets while conceding miserly at 5.00.

Speaking exclusively on Star Sports Cricket Live, former Australian cricketer Aaron Finch shared his thoughts on Ravindra Jadeja, “Ravindra Jadeja is such a versatile player, which makes him so effective. With the ball, he would have loved more wickets. He's been economical, going at under eight per over throughout the tournament. Leading with three wickets today, he showed he is an absolute-class player. Three wickets for just 20 runs, when the Punjab Kings were chasing a total of 170 odd runs, is just superb. It just shows why he's one of the best players in the world."

Finch shared his thoughts on KKR and Andre Russell’s performance last night, “Posting over 230 runs on that wicket was truly exceptional. They set the tone early, anticipating LSG's aggressive approach. Ramandeep's catch was nothing short of extraordinary, especially the one he took running back over his shoulder. They were incredibly disciplined with the ball, especially after the power play. The spinners dominated, showcasing exceptional skills. And Andre Russell, what a game-changer! After his impactful performance with the bat in the last match, he proved equally lethal with the ball today, dismissing Pooran and Marcus Stoinis.

"The Jamaican powerhouse is on a roll. And when he's bowling well, his entire game starts to come together. And you combine that with the way that Narine is batting at the top and then contributing with the ball, no one seems to be able to get him away.”

Finch shared his thoughts on Varun Chakravarthy’s performance, “With eight wickets in the last three games, all crucial dismissals significantly impacting the outcomes, tonight's dismissal of Deepak Hooda was particularly significant. LSG got their strategy wrong tonight. Chakravarthy was always going to bowl when Nicholas Pooran could have come into bat. So they just misread that situation totally and left themselves exposed. Too much work to do towards the back end. The hefty target of around 240 always appeared daunting, making the chase seem almost impossible.”

Finch shared his thoughts on Sunil Narine’s performance last night, “It's truly remarkable, isn't it? I mean, seeing Sunil Narine stride out to open the batting. Before this season, you're thinking, if we can just keep him quiet for a couple of balls, he'll try and do something and play a big shot. But this season, he's not only getting off to explosive starts but also batting smartly and seizing control of the innings. He's leveraging all his experience, displaying impeccable footwork, both forward and backward, and showcasing his versatility across the ground. It's quite extraordinary to witness him among the top five in both the orange and purple caps.”

Former Indian cricketer Deep Dasgupta talked about KKR's performance so far in the tournament, "Obviously, you have to give a lot of credit to Gautam Gambhir who's back, but also to the management for having faith in people like Sunil Narine and Andre Russell. The management has backed them, even Rinku Singh; the team has backed these players through times when they were down. And obviously, everything is coming together for KKR. It seems like they've covered almost all bases that you can think of, starting from the opening to the middle order.

"Very good captaincy from chairs, getting the right bowlers in at the right time, getting the right batter in at the right time, making sure that the batting order is based on the situation and not just numbers that we keep talking about. Even Mitchell Starc has been bowling fast; he was bowling at 145 today, picking up wickets. When it comes to the spin department, Sunil Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy are there. So, there is no kind of box that the KKR team haven't checked so far."