England all-rounder Moeen Ali hailed Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy following their excellent bowing against Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League match in Chennai on Friday.
Narine was the pick of the Kolkata Knight Riders bowlers, snapping three wickets and conceding just 13 runs in his spell of four overs. He did well with the bat too, scoring 44 runs from 18 balls, which included five maximums and two boundaries.
The 36-year-old was named ‘Player of the Match’ following his all-round performance as KKR trounced CSK by eight wickets.
Chakravarthy bagged two wickets -- Vijay Shankar and Deepak Hooda -- in his four overs, conceding 22 runs, at an economy of 5.5.
"It was nice, and having two left-handers helped my case. Just trying to keep it as tight as I can and pick up a couple of wickets,” said Moeen, at the post-match presentation.
Reflecting on his bowling, he said: “Tonight, I picked up one. It is nice, and Rinku's (Singh) dive for me to stop that four was big for my confidence. (I) try not to bowl too quickly; just give time to spin; sometimes it skids, sometimes it spins. I like to keep the shape of the ball and try to spin it.
“They (Narine and Varun) are amazing spinners, and they have been (playing in the IPL) for a while now, especially Sunil. If I can bowl a couple of overs up top and set them up in the middle, where they are quite hard to hit... I am learning from them and trying to keep up. It (the pitch) was a little bit tacky; you don't need to spin every ball, just one to put the doubt in the batter's mind," added Moeen.
The right-arm off-spinner had a good day out with the ball, snatching the wicket of Devon Conway in his spell of four overs, which included a maiden, at the cost of 20 runs and an economy of 5.
KKR easily chased down the target in just 10.1 overs, finishing with 107 for 2, to register their third win of the season and also significantly boost their Net Run Rate in the process.
Following Friday’s victory, KKR rose to third on the points table after three wins in six games.
CSK's campaign continues to falter; they suffered their fifth consecutive defeat and remain in the ninth position in the standings.
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