- Saturday, April 12, 2025
De Kock praised Narine for his all-round show – taking three wickets for 13 runs and smacking an 18-ball 44 with five sixes and three fours
By: India Weekly
KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS batter Quinton de Kock said having former Chennai Super Kings players Ajinkya Rahane and Moeen Ali in their ranks gave them key insights into the Chepauk conditions, which prompted the decision to field an extra spinner, a move that proved crucial in their eight-wicket win in the IPL contest.
KKR spinners Sunil Narine (3/13), Varun Chakravarthy (2/22), and Moeen Ali (1/20) shared five wickets between them, while pacer Harshit Rana chipped in with 2/16 to dismantle CSK’s batting and restrict the hosts to their lowest-ever total of 103/9 in Chennai on Friday (11).
“When we bowled, it seemed a lot slower, gripped a bit and our bowlers really enjoy that. We have got guys like Jinx (Rahane) and Mo (Moeen) who have been here before and they kind of knew that, so that’s why we played an extra spinner,” de Kock said after the match.
When asked about the nature of the pitch and if it changed in the second innings, de Kock said it only got better for batting as the game progressed.
“I do think (in) the second innings it got slightly better. It did come on a bit better, or at least that’s what I felt, that’s how it played, sort of slow and just got better and better during the innings went on,” he said.
De Kock lauded KKR for bringing together two mystery spinners in the shortest format and praised Narine for his all-round show. Narine smacked 18-ball 44 with five sixes and three fours in their modest chase.
“It’s always (about) mixing it up. I think it’s hard to line up certain spin bowlers like that because you never know what you’re going to get,” de Kock said.
“On top of that, having that amount of skill, the areas they bowl, Sunil prides himself on the areas that he bowls and so does Varun. They’re always working on their games, always trying to get better.”
“Sunil, when he bats, he brings the X factor. I think every bowler knows he’s going to come hard. He practices really hard. He’s always at practices. I don’t think he’s missed a practice, even optional practices. He really does work on it,” he added.
De Kock also praised Rana for bowling his heart out on what appeared to be a slow wicket.
“He is our big fast bowler and we try to bowl him as a wicket-taker. It depends on the scenarios you face. With the new ball, (we need him to) strike up very early.”
“Today we thought, ‘okay, let’s go with the spinner to start off and then he’ll come in’ and then that’s his job is to come in and make sure always like break a wicket or when wicket is broken to come on and just try and keep getting wickets.”
De Kock said KKR wants Rana to operate with multiple plans.
“He doesn’t have one set. We’re not trying to give him one set plan,” he said.
“We want to give him as many chances he can to pick up wickets for the team. Even though we’ve got the two spinners, but as a main fast bowler, we’re going to get to certain wickets or stadiums where we’re going to need our big fast bowler to stand up and really do what he did tonight,” he added.
A disappointed Chennai Super Kings skipper M S Dhoni blamed his batters for the heavy defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders and urged them to avoid desperation and instead focus on better application to arrest the slide in the upcoming IPL matches.
CSK were restricted to 103 for nine, as KKR chased down the target in just 10.1 overs, handing the five-time champions their biggest defeat in IPL history in terms of balls remaining.
“It has been quite a few nights that has not gone our way. The challenge has been there, we have to accept the challenge. Today I felt we did not have enough runs on the board,” Dhoni said after the match.
“It has been the case over here (Chepauk), when we bowled in the 2nd innings it stopped a bit, today it did in the first innings. When you lose too many wickets, there is pressure and with quality spinners it is difficult.” (PTI)
