- Ravindra Jadeja was appointed CSK skipper ahead of IPL 2022
- CSK has lost the first match under Jadeja’s captaincy
The 15th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2022) kick-started on Saturday with the event opener taking place between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). The Yellow army was handed over to Ravindra Jadeja after 14 years of MS Dhoni’s supremacy, however, the team has started their campaign with a defeat against Shreyas Iyer’s side.
KKR won the toss and elected to bowl first. The bowlers showed extravagant performances plucking five CSK batters making them fall short of balls on just 131 runs. In search of 132 runs, KKR were already comfortable and successfully touched the feat in 18.3 overs winding up in style with Adam Milne’s conceding Iyer’s four on the leg side.
The ex-skipper Dhoni touched the ’50’ milestone on 38 balls, however, Robin Uthappa was the second-highest scorer with 28 runs. The Purple Force’s bowlers include Umesh Yadav getting two wickets, conceding 20 runs in four overs. Varun Chakravarthy and Andre Russell plucked one apiece at economies of 5.75 and 9.50 respectively in four overs.
Marching on the field to chase, KKR had a solid start. Ajinkya Rahane added 44 runs from 34 balls, whereas Vekantesh Iyer had to go early on 16 striking at 100. With not a big target to look for, Nitish Rana’s 21 off 17, Shreyas Iyer’s 20 off 19, Sam Billings’ 25 off 22, and Sheldon Jackson’s 3 off 3 pulled off an opener win from them.
It must be noted Dhoni led CSK from the league’s inception in 2008 despite the two years when the franchise was banned. In his tenure, he has gathered four trophies for the team which makes them the second-best IPL team. Notably, CSK are the title defenders winning the IPL 2021 vs Eoin Morgan’s KKR.
