Kolkata Knight Riders’ IPL season went from bad to worse as Chennai Super Kings demolished them by 32 runs on a tricky surface, exposing head coach Abhishek Nayar‘s poor planning and skipper Ajinkya Rahane‘s archaic approach in Chennai on Tuesday. On a two-paced track, CSK, after a blazing powerplay that fetched them 72 runs, managed a decent 192 for five, which was around 20 runs short of par but proved good enough to outclass KKR, who were restricted to 160 for seven in their allotted 20 overs.

Rahane’s team lost wickets in a cluster as left-arm wrist-spinner Noor Ahmad (3/21 in four overs) wreaked havoc, blowing away the middle order to ensure a comfortable win.

On a pitch where the ball gripped, Noor was more than a handful as he removed Rahane, Rinku Singh (6) and Cameron Green (0), with KKR slumping from 79 for two to 90 for six.

Left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein (1/26 in four overs) was also more than decent, keeping the batters in check.

Rahane (28 off 22 balls) and Raghuvanshi (27 off 19 balls) adding 50 runs in just over five overs was an eyesore, as their approach was reminiscent of how batters chased such targets a decade ago.

Mumbai men Rahane and Raghuvanshi batting in the KKR top four has proven to be an unmitigated disaster for the Shah Rukh Khan-owned side, which has now lost four of its first five games.

But the bulk of the responsibility for KKR’s disastrous show lies at Abhishek Nayar’s doorstep.

Meanwhile, CSK are back on track with two wins.

Rahane was unhappy when asked about his powerplay batting, but his age-old weakness against slow bowlers was exploited expertly by CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad.

Credit should also go to pacers Anshul Kamboj and Khaleel Ahmed, who removed the two players who could have made the chase look easy – Finn Allen (1) and Sunil Narine (24 off 17 balls).

Another pair of impactful players, Rovman Powell (31 off 22) and Ramandeep Singh (35* off 23), entered the fray too late, with the damage already done.

Earlier, after Sanju Samson (48 off 32 balls) and Ayush Mhatre (38 off 17 balls) took CSK to 72 for two at the end of the powerplay, off-spinner Narine (1/21 in four overs), slow left-armer Anukul Roy (1/21 in three overs) and Varun Chakravarthy (0/26 in three overs) conceded just 68 runs in the 10 overs they bowled collectively, while picking up two wickets.

In the 14 overs after the powerplay, CSK managed only 120 runs at under nine runs per over, largely due to the control exerted by the KKR spinners.

At the death, Kartik Tyagi (2/35 in four overs) bowled with pace in the high 140s and cleverly mixed in slower deliveries outside the batter’s arc to make scoring difficult.

Dewald Brevis (41 off 29 balls) showed glimpses of his class, while Sarfaraz Khan (23 off 18 balls) once again displayed his cheeky cricketing smarts in a half-century-plus stand.

At the start, Samson teed off with three boundaries, including a streaky one off Vaibhav Arora in his opening over.

However, it was U-19 World Cup-winning captain Mhatre who upped the ante straightaway with back-to-back sixes off Cameron Green, apart from hitting a couple of boundaries.

The standout was a Kapil Dev-style Nataraja shot behind square. He also struck another open-chested six over mid-wicket. Mhatre’s knock gave the CSK innings the required momentum, even as Samson played second fiddle during that phase.

While Samson’s innings could be termed far from smooth, he did show his touch with a straight six off Kartik Tyagi, who later returned with a sharp 148.1 kph off-cutter to breach his defence.

The Chepauk track was two-paced in nature, with the odd ball gripping and coming onto the bat late. The KKR trio of Anukul, Narine and Chakravarthy found enough purchase to put the brakes on run-scoring after the powerplay, with Tyagi complementing them brilliantly

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