The opening encounter of IPL 2022 saw a clash of giants take place in Wankhede stadium. It was not just the two teams that made the contest a great feast.
But the fact that we had two new captains looking to start on a bright note added to the gist of things.
On the one hand, we had experienced Shreyas Iyer, who has taken Delhi Capitals to finals in 2020. While on the other was, it was Jadeja who was captaining his first competitive game since U-19 days.
Hence it was a fascinating game in prospect with only one team and captain who could walk away with a win. In the end, it was Shreyas Iyer who turned out to be victorious.
From the very start of the game, KKR was in control of things. Having picked up early wickets, they were never out of the game.
Although in the latter part of the first inning, Dhoni played a marvellous inning to take CSK to a respectable total. But it was just never enough as KKR bowlers didn’t allow CSK any room to breathe.
Umesh Yadav and Sunil Narine were their picks of bowlers. While Yadav dented the CSK inning earlier on. It was Narine who kept the batters at bay in the middle overs.
As a result, despite Dhoni’s heroics, CSK could only add 131 runs to their total.
The second inning was a smooth sail for KKR. Unlike the CSK openers, Venkatesh Iyer and Rahane faced no issue in getting a move on.
Second inning was easy sails for KKR Batters
They added 43 runs in the first 6 overs, putting the game in KKR’s pocket. Although CSK managed to remove the two openers and Nitish Rana, who came in at 3. Yet they could just never come back in the game.
Rahane scored 44, and Rana scored 21 off 17 to put KKR ahead of the curve.
Later it was a neat finish by the new KKR captain Shreyas Iyer and Sam Billings that saw them over the line. Billing scored 25, and Iyer remained not out on 20 off 19 balls.
They won the game with 6 wickets and 9 balls to spare.
Shreyas Iyer will be happy with his team’s performance and will be hoping to continue in the same manner throughout the tournament.
