IPL 2021 | When Jadeja was playing, I thought he would do some kind of magic, says Lakshmipathy Balaji

IPL 2021 | When Jadeja was playing, I thought he would do some kind of magic, says Lakshmipathy Balaji

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Lakshmipathy Balaji has praised Ravindra Jadeja for his heroics against Kolkata Knight Riders

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Chennai Super Kings bowling coach Lakshmipathy Balaji has said that he thought Ravindra Jadeja would do some magic while batting against Kolkata Knight Riders in Abu Dhabi. Jadeja scored 22 runs off eight balls and scored 20 runs against Prasidh Krishna in the penultimate over of the match.

Kolkata Knight Riders skipper won the toss and elected to bat in a hot afternoon in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. They scored 171/6 at the end of the innings, thanks to Rahul Tripathi (45), Nitish Rana (37*), Andre Russell (20) and a quickfire 26 runs off just 11 balls from Dinesh Karthik. Jadeja bowled the second most economical spell of the game as he took one wicket for 21 runs in four overs. Balaji praised Jadeja for his match-winning efforts.

"I think, this was exactly one-year back in Dubai, the second game against KKR, Jaddu (Jadeja) won us the game in the last over. I recollected and little-bit went back with the memory and I thought when Ravi was playing, he would do some kind of magic and he has improved his batting under pressure," Balaji said at the post-match press conference.

"And he (Jadeja) is showing that on the field and making sure, helping us to cross the line. It is a wonderful to see Ravi coming a little-bit higher and higher in his batting order, his batting ability has changed overall in the last one or two years," added Balaji. 

Jadeja was the star of the match for Chennai Super Kings as his heroics ensured a two-wicket win over KKR. The southpaw launched into pacer Prasidh Krishna, who bowled the 19th over, where the pacer lost his length completely as CSK reached the target of 172 in exactly 20 overs. The Saurashtra all-rounder scored 20 runs off four balls in that over and was adjudged Player-of-the-Match.

Meanwhile, KKR chief mentor David Hussey said that pacer Prasidh Krishna was beaten by a better player.

"PK (Prasidh Krishna) has been (an) amazing depth bowler for us throughout this tournament, in the last two games, so he is definitely in our plans to bowl. Unfortunately, he got beaten by a better player today in Jadeja. I'm sure knowing PK he is going to bounce back and become the world class bowler that he actually is normally," Hussey said.

He said that Andre Russell, who had to leave the field due to an injury, was probably going to bowl the 19th over, which changed the course of the match.

"Of course, when Andre (Russell) went off the park, he had one over to go, was he going to bowl, nobody really knows, he bowled particularly well up-front so, he probably was going to bowl the 19th over," he said.

With this win, CSK reclaimed the top spot in the points table after losing it to Delhi Capitals on Saturday. CSK has become the second team after Delhi Capitals to qualify for the playoffs. They will play next against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Thursday, September in Sharjah. 

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