England's Phil Salt became an unfortunate statistic in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Monday. He's now the fifth Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) batsman to be dismissed on the very first ball of the match, a dubious record in the league's history.

Facing the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Salt was clean bowled by right-arm fast bowler Tushar Deshpande. This unwanted record joins the dismissals of Brendon McCullum (2009), Manoj Tiwary (2010), Jacques Kallis (2014), and Joe Denly (2019) – all KKR batsmen who suffered the same fate on the first ball.

CSK capitalized on this early breakthrough, with bowlers Tushar Deshpande (3-33), Mustafizur Rahman (2-22), and Ravindra Jadeja (3-18) restricting KKR to a meager 137 runs for 9 wickets in their 20 overs.

In reply, CSK chased down the target comfortably thanks to a brilliant knock from Ruturaj Gaikwad (67* off 58 balls) and a quickfire 28 from Shivam Dube (18 balls). This victory not only extended CSK's winning streak at home but also ended KKR's unbeaten run in the tournament.

For his all-around performance, which included three wickets with the ball, Ravindra Jadeja was adjudged the Player of the Match.