CHENNAI: Kolkata Knight Riders batter Quinton de Kock revealed that former Chennai Super Kings players Ajinkya Rahane and Moeen Ali played a key role in shaping the team’s bowling strategy at Chepauk, leading to the crucial decision to field an extra spinner in their eight-wicket win over CSK.
KKR’s spin trio—Sunil Narine (3/13), Varun Chakravarthy (2/22) and Moeen Ali (1/20)—shared five wickets to dismantle the CSK batting line-up, with pacer Harshit Rana contributing with figures of 2/16. The hosts were restricted to their lowest-ever total at the venue—103/9.
“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 pitch and whether it changed during the second innings, de Kock felt it became easier to bat on 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 praised KKR’s combination of mystery spinners and lauded Narine for his impactful all-round show. Narine smashed a 44 off just 18 balls, hitting five sixes and three fours, in the 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.
He also credited Rana for adapting well to a slow surface and delivering key breakthroughs.
“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 a wicket is broken to come on and just try and keep getting wickets.”
De Kock added that KKR were encouraging Rana to operate with flexible plans rather than sticking to one formula.
“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.
