After a couple of jarring stumbles on the road, the Chennai Super Kings found their feet—and their form—back on the familiar dust of Chepauk, handing the Kolkata Knight Riders their first checkmate of IPL 2024. In a classic tale of spin over speed, Chennai spun a web around Kolkata, keeping them to a manageable 137 for 9, despite Kolkata’s brisk start of 56 for 1 in the powerplay. As the evening wore on, the Chepauk pitch, like a fine vintage, seemed to improve with age—or perhaps it was just Ravindra Jadeja, who turned in a spellbinding 3 for 18.

The chase was a stroll in the park, led by a resurgent Ruturaj Gaikwad who carved a stylish 67 not out off 58 deliveries, reminding everyone that form is temporary but class, as they say, is permanent. His innings was a masterclass in pacing—starting cautiously, then smoothly shifting gears, a technique as old as time but as effective as ever. Alongside him, Daryl Mitchell and later Shivam Dube added their might, with Dube’s 28 off 18 providing the late fireworks before MS Dhoni walked out to a hero’s welcome and watched as Gaikwad fittingly finished the job.

Gaikwad’s return to form couldn’t have been timelier. Prior to this match, his bat had been quieter than a library on a Monday morning, but with a modest target on the board, he knuckled down. After a cautious start, he opened up with some classic drives and pull shots that had the connoisseurs nodding in approval. By the end of the powerplay, Gaikwad had lit up Chepauk, and with the dependable Mitchell and the explosive Dube for company, the chase looked all but over midway through.

The subplot of the match, however, belonged to the spinners. Chepauk’s twirlers had apparently taken their early season criticism to heart because Jadeja, with the guile of a street-smart magician, plucked three critical wickets almost out of thin air. Each delivery seemed to have a mind of its own, bamboozling the batsmen and turning the game into a spectacle of spinning tops.

Meanwhile, Kolkata’s own blitz early on was spearheaded by Sunil Narine, who seemed to be on a personal mission to redefine powerplay batting. His explosive hitting, which included a trek past Virat Kohli’s record for most powerplay runs this season, briefly gave Kolkata a shimmer of hope. But as Jadeja’s spin web grew thicker, the Knight Riders’ batsmen found themselves more tangled than a ball of yarn in a cat’s paw.

As the innings wound down, Chennai’s quicks swapped pace for guile, throwing down a mix of cutters that would’ve made any spinner green with envy. Mustafizur Rahman and Tushar Deshpande turned the final overs into a cricketing masterclass of slow bowling, picking up wickets and throttling the run flow as effectively as any of their spinning compatriots.

In the end, as the Chepauk crowd roared and the Knight Riders trudged off, the Super Kings not only celebrated a victory but also a return to the strategic depth and execution that has made them one of the most feared sides in the IPL. On a night when the old guard and the new both shone, CSK reminded everyone that while their fortress might occasionally shake, it seldom falls.