07 May,2025 08:17 AM IST | Kolkata | Arup Chatterjee
Kolkata Knight Riders’s players celebrate their one-run victory over Rajasthan Royals in Kolkata on Sunday. Pic/PTI
Two down, three to go! When Kolkata Knight Riders stopped Rajasthan Royals just one short of their 206-run total at the Eden Gardens on Sunday, it was the first time this season that the defending champions had stitched together two consecutive victories. But now, the Knights need to win their remaining three games as well to have a chance of making the Playoffs.
On Wednesday, they take on Chennai Super Kings in what will be KKR's last league match at home. "More than anything else, we know the ability of every individual, and [it falls upon] the mentors and coaches to make sure that the players just believe in themselves," head coach Chandrakant Pandit said when asked how the players keep calm despite the tough task. "The team have been playing well for the last couple of games and it's about maintaining that momentum."
CSK, with their qualification hopes quashed, are on the last rung of the league ladder. Despite their pathetic position, there is enough evidence to suggest that the five-time champions are far from being pushovers. Royal Challengers Bengaluru, currently among the top two, will surely vouch for that after the close shave on Saturday.
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At another time, today's game could've provided an engaging one-upmanship between two fine sets of spinners, but it proved a dud when the two teams met in Chennai nearly a month ago with KKR coming away with a most emphatic victory. Since then, Ravichandran Ashwin, the most experienced of the CSK spin trio, has fallen out of favour and has not played the last three matches. Will he make a comeback here and join Ravindra Jadeja and Noor Ahmad in conditions that lend themselves nicely to spinners?
Spin, of course, is KKR's forte with Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy still the âdeadly duo'. The Knights may well want to continue with Moeen Ali, who would've finished with impressive figures in the last match had it not been for Riyan Parag going berserk and hitting five sixes in an over. Moeen can be handy with the bat too.
The Knights came away from Sunday's match with a number of positives, none more encouraging than âone-man-army' Andre Russell coming into his own. While skipper Ajinkya Rahane continues to be âthe calm' amidst the storms and Rinku Singh is finding his finishing skills, it's 20-year-old Angkrish Raghuvanshi who is promising so much more.
If teen talent is the talk of the town, CSK are also showcasing one of them. Mumbai lad Ayush Mhatre is 17, and he is coming here on the back of a 48-ball 94 from Saturday's two-run loss at RCB. Jadeja hammered an unbeaten 77 and Sam Curran an 88 in the match before that.
MS Dhoni skipped both days of practice here; CSK and his legion of fans, many of whom will be at the stadium to turn the terraces yellow, will be eager to see him revisit his old form, even if briefly. "MS knows where he is in terms of his preparations; he always works very hard at the beginning of the tournament and then allows himself to taper off because he gets himself in a space where he's ready," CSK's bowling coach Eric Simmons indicated that Dhoni would take the field today.
