Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra heaped praise on Chennai Super Kings performance against Kolkata Knight Riders and cited them as ‘Kings of Chepauk’ for continuing their winning spree at home in IPL 2024.
After Ravindra Jadeja starred with a miserly spell of 3-18, followed by Tushar Deshpande and Mustafizur Rahman bowling exceptional spells of 3-33 and 2-22 respectively to restrict KKR to 137/9, Gaikwad dazzled in front of the faithful home crowd with a flurry of delightful boundaries to carry his bat and complete the modest chase with 14 balls to spare.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra lauded Chennai as the inevitable kings at home ground.
"Chennai Super Kings are Chepauk Super Kings. They are Champion Super Kings. They are a team that don't lose at home. No one has been able to beat them at home. No one has been able to breach their citadel. Their fortress is extremely strong. KKR came prepared but nothing worked for them - neither batting nor bowling," said Aakash Chopra.
"Deepak Chahar wasn't there and I was surprised. Pathirana wasn't there and I said that the bowling had suddenly become very weak. You played Lord (Shardul) Thakur for sure, but the opposing team was a juggernaut. So I was a little worried and concerned," he added.
Chahar was ruled out of Monday's game due to a niggle. Pathirana, who also missed CSK's previous game against the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH), hadn't recovered from his injury.
Aakash Chopra also praised Ravindra Jadeja for his match-winning bowling spell and being very active in the field.
"Chennai won the toss and bowled, and Phil Salt was dismissed off the first ball itself. How will you prepare good food without salt? Tushar Deshpande got the wicket and the catch went to Jaddu's hand. When the catch went to Jaddu's hand, we came to know it's going to be Jaddu's day.”
"Let's be fair, Kolkata won the powerplay. However, when wickets started falling after that, they couldn't come out of it. Ravindra Jadeja picked up three wickets. He also didn't concede too many runs in his four overs and took two catches as well. He broke everything from the backbone to the legs and arms," the cricketer-turned-commentator added.
Chopra also gave credit to Mustafizur Rahman and Tushar Deshpande for taking key wickets and assisting CSK in keeping KKR to a modest total that was easily chased down.
“Whoever was trying to hit was getting stuck, whether it was Shreyas Iyer or Rinku Singh. Andre Russell also swung his bat hard but nothing happened. Tushar Deshpande picked up a wicket at the start and came back to take wickets in the end. Fizz could have got three wickets but MS Dhoni dropped a catch. However, the runs weren't much at all," he elaborated.
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