Chennai Super Kings retained the fourth spot in the IPL 2024 Points Table with a comfortable victory over Kolkata Knight Riders on Monday. Ravindra Jadeja and Tushar Deshpande were the top performers with the ball while skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad made short work of the run chase as CSK have six points from 5 matches. KKR, whose unbeaten run in the competition finally came to an end, also retained the second spot in the competition as they have the same points as Lucknow Super Kings as well as CSK but a much better Net Run Rate (NRR). Rajasthan Royals are top with 8 points.

Ravindra Jadeja made optimum use of a tacky Chepauk surface as Chennai Super Kings were back to winning ways after they comfortably outclassed Kolkata Knight Riders by seven wickets.

It was CSK’s third win in five games, all of which have come at Chepauk, having lost the last two matches away from home.

Jadeja, whose spin bowling has often taken a back-seat in past few seasons, took three wickets in a space of eight deliveries to clinically dismantle KKR, who could only manage 137 for 9 on a track where stroke-making became difficult.

The chase wasn’t the problem as skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad scored 58-ball-67 and was duly supported by Daryl Mitchell (25 off 19 balls) and in-form Shivam Dube (28 off 18 balls). The chase was completed in 17.4 overs.

Fittingly, Mahendra Singh Dhoni was present in the middle when they finally got the winning runs.

The match was a typical one from the KKR playbook, where they always apply the choke with their spinners on a surface where the ball grips and then their top-order controls the chase which is within manageable limits like it was on Monday.

Earlier, Jadeja worked his magic, ripping the heart out of KKR’s batting.

Having lost back to back games on the road, CSK were back in their element on a familiar Chepauk turf where the ball gripped and allowed Jadeja (3/18 in 4 overs) and Maheesh Theekshana (1/28 in 4 overs) were absolutely brilliant with both their line and length.

(With PTI inputs)