Twitter Reactions: KKR thump defending champions CSK in the IPL 2022 season opener

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have started their Indian Premier League (IPL) campaign with a comfortable win over the defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK). It was a fairly one-sided encounter despite the veteran MS Dhoni rolling back the clock with the bat with a stunning fifty. However, it only helped CSK post a decent total on the board after being in a very poor position until the 17th over of their innings.

After being put in to bat first, Ruturaj Gaikwad, the Orange Cap winner of IPL 2021, got out for a duck thanks to some brilliant swing bowling from Umesh Yadav. The pacer made full use of the fresh pitch on offer to nip out both the CSK openers. Robin Uthappa showed some spark, playing some enterprising shots. He reached 28 in a fairly quick time but was undone by some quick stumping from Sheldon Jackson off Varun Chakaravarthy.

Ambati Rayudu was sold down the river by his nervous skipper Ravindra Jadeja, and when Shivam Dube got out playing a needless shot, CSK were down and out at 62/5 in the 11th over. This is when MS Dhoni came out to bat and though he looked completely out of sorts facing Chakaravarthy and Sunil Narine, the man pulled things back nicely in the last three overs.

He was struggling at 7 off 18 balls at one stage and some trademark shots took him to a stunning 50 off just 38 balls. Ravindra Jadeja struggled right through his stay in the middle and could only finish the innings with a six as CSK finished at 132/5 after 20 overs.

KKR win comfortably despite taking almost 19 overs

The target was never going to put pressure on the KKR batters and their openers Ajinkya Rahane and Venkatesh Iyer made sure they got off to a decent start. The former was fluent in his stroke play finding gaps during the Powerplay overs. Iyer though struggled before getting out to Dwayne Bravo for 16. Nitish Rana then came out and played a couple of eye-catching strokes.

He didn’t let any bowler settle and kept the scoreboard ticking on a slowish kind of pitch at the Wankhede stadium. However, Bravo ended his stay in the middle as well keeping CSK in the hunt. The ball was stopping in the pitch and that also led to Rahane chipping one to the mid-wicket fielder after scoring a brilliant 44 off 34 balls.

Even though KKR lost wickets at regular intervals, they were always on their way to chase down the total and timely boundaries kept the required run-rate in check. Shreyas Iyer and Sam Billings also contributed decently in the chase as the two-time champions reached the target in the 19th over of the innings.

Here’s how Twitter reacted: