Bengaluru, April 22: Chennai Super Kings (CSK) fast bowlers Deepak Chahar, who bowled a match-winning spell against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) during their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 tie believes he is just sticking to his basics as things are going well for him.
Defending 220, Chahar produced a sensational spell, claiming four wickets (including the prize scalp of KKR skipper Eoin Morgan) for just 29 runs while Lungi Ngidi (3/28) captured one to leave KKR tottering at 31 for 5 in 5.2 overs.
From then on, the result was a foregone conclusion though Andre Russell and Pat Cummins delayed the inevitable with some lusty hitting down the order.
"I don't know (what I'm doing right). I'm just trying to bowl straight balls and it's swinging. It was a good wicket to bowl on, the ball was swinging and seaming," Chahar said at the post-match presentation.
"I didn't pick a lot of wickets last year and I realised later that when I'm bowling the first over I have the responsibility and if I get 1-2 wickets in the powerplay, the tone is set," he added.
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Chahar said his team bowled some really bad balls to allow the KKR batsmen to be in the run chase.
"The dew came in, the ball was coming on nicely, some good batting by Russell and we also bowled some bad balls, so it was a combination of everything," he said.
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"Even the cutters Sam was bowling were coming onto the bat. I was thinking we shouldn't lose this match, they were batting really well and at one point needed 40 off 20 balls which is very gettable on this ground.
"It's always good to win matches like this in the group stage as you learn a lot of things."
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The win helped CSK move to the top of IPL 2021 standings while KKR continue to languish at sixth position.
KKR next take on the Sanju Samson-led Rajasthan Royals on Saturday (April 24) while for CSK locks horns with the Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore a day later.