MS Dhoni: The minute we bowled the first ball in the second innings, we knew we needed 180. But there was no way we could have got 180 on that pitch. The dew made a big difference in the second innings. We can’t really blame any of our bowlers. Just that the conditions had a big impact on the game. Very happy with what Shivam has done, but important that he is not satisfied and keeps improving. Chahar swings the ball, he knows what fields to take, and he bowls accordingly.
Nitish Rana: Chandu sir [Pandit, KKR coach] asked for a heavy roller, which I didn’t want. I felt the heavy roller might break the pitch, but it settled the pitch completely. The ball didn’t turn in the second innings. Credit to our spinners for how well they bowled. I always felt that if I or Rinku could hold one end up, we will chase this down. That’s what happened.
Rinku Singh is the Player of the Match: We lost three wickets early, so we decided we will take this deep. I bat at 5, 6 in domestic cricket too so the experience helped me. I have worked hard, really hard, to get batting well, which is what gives me confidence.
Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders Highlights today, Saturday 14-6-2023. 61st Match (N), Indian Premier League 2023, MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai.
MS Dhoni says the pitches have changed over the duration of the IPL, and now Chennai is a bat-first surface. He says he is happy with how players have taken responsibility. “Perhaps fielding can improve 5-10%.” CSK are unchanged.
Nitish Rana says he would have wanted to bat first himself because the pitch looks a little sticky. Rana reports one change: Vaibhav Arora in for Anukul Roy.
Toss: Super Kings chose to bat.
Chennai Super Kings team: D Conway, R Gaikwad, A Rahane, M Ali, A Rayudu, S Dube, R Jadeja, MS Dhoni (c & wk), D Chahar, T Deshpande, M Theekshana
Kolkata Knight Riders team: J Roy, R Gurbaz (wk), S Narine, N Rana (c), R Singh, A Russell, S Thakur, V Arora, H Rana, S Sharma, V Chakaravarthy
Head to Head In T20’s: 19
Chennai Super Kings Won: 19
Kolkata Knight Riders Won: 10
Form guide
(last five completed Matches, most recent first)
Chennai Super Kings WWLLW
Kolkata Knight Riders LWWLW
Match Timings: 2:00 PM GMT | 7:30 PM Local
Umpires – Tapan Sharma, Vinod Seshan
TV Umpire – Nitin Menon
Match Referee – Javagal Srinath
Reserve Umpire – VM Dhokre
Match number – IPL 2023 – 61st Match
IPL Points Table
Pitch and weather: With the day temperature expected to touch 40 degrees Celsius, the evening will be extremely hot and humid. It remains to be seen if they dish out another black-soil pitch because of the spin resources in KKR, but it is expected to be slow again.
