When Kolkata Knight Riders suffocated Chennai Super Kings in the first half of their encounter at Chepauk, Ajinkya Rahane would have been a happy captain indeed.
And why not? KKR won the toss and chose to field first knowing that the dew would affect the game. On what looked like a good batting track, Anukul Roy and Sunil Narine gave away just 42 runs in 7 overs in exchange for 2 wickets.
KKR conceded only 192 runs on a pitch where it looked like 200–210 might have been par. KKR sent in Sunil Narine and Finn Allen to open the innings hoping that a brisk start would give them the best possible chance to win the game and the dew would do the rest after the 10th over.
But it all came crashing down after Afghanistan spinner Noor Ahmad tore through the team’s batting line-up and claimed 3 wickets in just 21 runs.
| CSK vs KKR, IPL 2026: Highlights | Scorecard |
Noor was named Man of the Match as KKR sank further into the abyss, losing their fourth game from 5 matches.
This run of form makes it Kolkata’s worst start in IPL history as they continue to search for the answers needed to turn their fortunes around this season.
While Noor grabbed the limelight, CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad may have flown under the radar. The CSK captain and think tank handled his bowlers superbly and kept calm heads when the score was not enough.
So in today’s IPL Game of the Day we feature CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad who we thought was the difference maker in the field today.
Gaikwad’s exceptional performance today did not come with the bat. He continued his dreadful form with the bat and hit it straight to Rovman Powell at mid-wicket. Gaikwad was the first to fall, compounding his four overs already in the league.
And that is also what makes his performance today special: that he was able to separate the entity of being a captain and being a batsman.
BURNING UNIT KKR
Kolkata Knight Riders tried to throw a curveball at CSK today, starting with the combination of Sunil Narine and Finn Allen. Batting with Narine has been interesting as he has only bowled four balls this season.
The start with Narine and Allen was that if the duo got a few balls from the middle of the batting, they could have given KKR the right start they needed for the 193-run chase.
Gaikwad, who saw Narine hitting the bat, handed the ball to Khalil Ahmed and Anshul Kamboj in a power play and simply asked the duo to keep the ball away from the batsman’s arc.
Anshul and Khaleel bowled 5 of the first 6 overs conceding only 31 runs. In return, they recalled both the openers who were ready to go hammer and tongs today.
When Allen and Narine thought their stumps would be attacked, CSK kept the new ball away from the openers’ arc with a slight swing in the air.
Once the openers were out, the obvious trick was to bring in Noor Ahmed and Akeal Hosein and ask them to get through their spins before the dew came.
RUTURAJ HOLDS NOOR’S OVER
But Ruturaj did the opposite. In the 7th, he bowled Noor for one and took him completely away from the attack.
He asked Akeal Hosein to bowl back to back from the other end. Hosein used his variety of seam balls and traditional off-spinners, never letting the right-arm duo of Ajinkya Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvanshi settle.
A frustrated Rahane broke the shackles in the 9th over and hit Gurjapneet Singh for two sixes, but that was it.
Ruturaj bowled Noor’s overs for the second half of the game and introduced him again in the 11th over of the match.
It is important to note that by this time both the batsmen were already giving chances off Akeal’s bowling and CSK had already dismissed Angkrish in the 10th over.
Desperate Rahane needed to break the shackles and with increasing run rate and spin at both ends, Rahane had no option but to attack.
Result: caught at odd cover when I misjudged a googly from the left wrist spinner.
Rahane’s wicket brought Cameron Green to the crease. Green, well known for his weakness against spin, could not survive the first ball and was bowled clean by Noor.
One might ask, why send Green when he clearly can’t play spin?
That’s because KKR had no choice. They had already dropped the all-rounder at No.6 and simply couldn’t push their Rs 25.20 crore man down.
Ruturaj knew this and played with KKR’s tactical error perfectly.
It was Jamie Overton in the last match and Noor Ahmad in this match. Different matches, different match winners. This shows that CSK is not dependent on just one player and that is their biggest strength. #CSKvsKKR #KKRvsCSK pic.twitter.com/R55Yte5ZV4— Aryan (@MStark_56) April 14, 2026
It was cakewalk for the home side from now on as they saw the backs of Rinku and Ramandeep Singh put the final nail in the coffin for KKR.
The changes in the bowling combination worked to perfection and CSK managed a big victory by 32 runs against the 2024 champions.
With the win, ČSK moved to 8th place in the league table with 4 points from 5 matches.
While the world will be singing the praises of Noor Ahmad on Wednesday, let it be known that it was Ruturaj Gaikwad who was able to separate the batsmen from each other and lead his team to victory on Tuesday.
IPL 2026 | IPL Schedule | IPL Points Table | IPL Player Stats | Purple Cap | Orange Cap | IPL Videos | Cricket News | Live Score
– The end
Issued by:
Kingshuk Kusari
Published on:
15 Apr 2026 03:44 IST
Tune in
