New Delhi, Oct 8: Kolkata Knight Riders snatched win from the jaws of a likely defeat and stunned MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings by 10 runs in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 encounter in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday (October 7).
Chasing a target of 168, CSK could only manage 157 for the loss of five wickets to suffer their fourth defeat in six games. Dhoni's men were cruising in the run chase at the half-way mark but the dismissal of set Ambati Rayudu (30) and Shane Watson (50) pushed CSK on the backfoot and their middle-order once again failed to rise to the occasion.
Captain Dhoni also disappointed as he could only muster 12 before Varun Chakravarthy castled his stumps in the 17th over and suddenly CSK had a lot of catching up to do in what was looking a rather easy chase.
IPL 2020: Rahul Tripathi opens innings against Chennai Super Kings, scores impressive 81
Kedar Jadhav the new man-in after Dhoni's dismissal hardly showed any intent in the death over ever since his arrival into the middle which forced his partner Sam Curran to go for a big shot on the first ball of the 18th over but he failed as he was caught at the cover region.
Jadhav kept wasting deliveries as he kept blocking balls one after the other and let the game slip away from his team's grip. The right-handed batsman couldn't even rotate the strike in the death overs and by the end of the penultimate over, CSK required 26 off six deliveries.
In the final over bowled by Andre Russell, Jadhav failed to rotate the strike on the first two deliveries. On the third delivery, Jadhav took a single but by then KKR's win was ensured as CSK required improbable 25 off the last three deliveries. Although Jadeja hit all three remaining balls and got a six, and a couple of boundaries. But that wasn't enough as his team fell 11 runs short of the target.
IPL 2020: The batsmen let the bowlers down: Dhoni on CSK’s loss to KKR
Fans blamed Jadhav's slow batting and Dhoni's captaincy for CSK's defeat. Jadhav was made the butt of all jokes on social media as he could only score a boundary in 12 deliveries he faced and remained unbeaten on seven.
Here's how Jadhav was criticised:
Pls explain why Kedar batted above Jadeja Bravo and Shardul? What is the logic? He isn’t bowling. Isn’t a gun fielder. What’s his role! This was in control for Chennai. @KKRiders won’t mind it one bit. Hugely imp points. @SushantNMehta we said exact words on the show! On Kedar!
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) October 7, 2020
And please send Jadhav back in the same flight. Thanks. #csk https://t.co/VH3ouIgxqv
— Ashok Selvan (@AshokSelvan) October 7, 2020
Can even digest that #CSK lost the match.
— Sathish Kumar M (@sathishmsk) October 7, 2020
But, #Jadhav changed his bat and didn’t try to run in the last over. Don’t know what to say
Seriously dear @ChennaiIPL if we wanted to have some good game of cricket please condider THE LEGEND KEDHAR JADHAV to replace as coach for test cricket..Its not as previous yrs of @IPL this season is harder ..Need to find replace.. pic.twitter.com/8wpaWR6WyU
— Dinesh kannan (@Dineshdinnudk) October 7, 2020
Everyone watching Kedar Jadhav's innings pic.twitter.com/ZToGIQnxX8
— All India Memes (@allindiamemes) October 7, 2020
Why is CSK sticking with Jadhav? Even he wouldn't pick himself for his Dream11 team. #KKRvCSK
— Rofl Gandhi 2.0🏹 (@RoflGandhi_) October 7, 2020
#Dhoni having #Jadhav in the playing XI so that there's someone who plays worse than him and he can escape from the ppl's wrath
— AKSHAY (@akshay14793) October 7, 2020
Kedar jadhav's role in CSK.
— Mask 🎭 (@Mr_LoLwa) October 7, 2020
pic.twitter.com/FAimjJD9kS
Kedar Jadhav Weak Zones today!! pic.twitter.com/lMzQvVvqyy
— Ethir Katchi (@sudhanks) October 7, 2020