Abu Dhabi: Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) bowlers produced an incredible all-round performance to carry their side to a 10-run win over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) here at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium on Wednesday.
CSK needed 168 runs to win but they fell 11 runs short of the target owing to some fine bowling performance by the KKR bowlers.
Chasing a moderate total of 165, CSK got off to a good start with Faf du Plessis smashing back to back boundaries in the very second over. Du Plessis continued his scintillating form and slammed a pull short for four as CSK raced to 25 runs in three overs.
Shivam Mavi drew the first blood for KKR as Du Plessis edged a short delivery to Dinesh Karthik in the fourth over.
However, Du Plessis wicket didn’t have any effect on CSK as Shane Watson continued from where he left the other night. Watson and Ambati Rayudu bludgeoned the KKR bowling attack without playing any risky shots.
The MS Dhoni-led side raced to 94 for the loss of one wicket in 11 overs with Sunil Narine yet to bowl a ball. Kamlesh Nagarkoti dismissed Rayudu to put a brake on CSK’s run-scoring streak as the required rate went past nine after the end of 13th over for the first time.
Narine trapped Watson in front of the stumps in the very next over to revive KKR ‘s chances in the game with Dhoni and Sam Curran on the crease.
With 58 needed in the last five over, Curran took the charge and smashed Narine for back to back boundaries in the 16th over. Meanwhile, Dhoni started the 17th over with a cracking four over the covers.
However, Varun Chakravarthy dismissed Dhoni in the very next ball as CSK got reduced to 129/4.
With 39 needed from the last three overs, CSK lost its way to the ever-mounting run rate. In the end, the CSK side fell 11 runs short of the target.
Earlier after opting to bat first, KKR posted a total of 167 runs on the back of Rahul Tripathi’s heroics. Tripathi played a knock of 81 runs as he helped his side post a respectable target for the MS Dhoni-led side.
KKR witnessed a good start as openers Tripathi and Shubman Gill struck regular boundaries. The duo formed a 37-run partnership before Shardul Thakur got hold of Gill (11) in the fifth over.
Nitish Rana then came out to bat but only managed to score nine runs before being dismissed by Karn Sharma. In his next over, Sharma removed Sunil Narine as well, reducing KKR to 98/3 after the completion of 11 overs.
Tripathi, who completed his half-century, was then joined by Eoin Morgan on the field. However, Morgan too failed to impress as he was caught behind in the 14th over, bowled by Sam Curran.
The fall of wickets did not stop as Andre Russell too was sent back to the pavilion after being caught behind off Thakur’s delivery in the 16th over.
In the next over, Dwayne Bravo handed CSK with the much-needed breakthrough as he took the wicket of Tripathi. KKR lost three wickets in the final over and were all out on 167 runs.
For CSK, Curran, Thakur, and Karn picked two wickets each while Bravo clinched three in the match.
Brief Scores: KKR 167/10 [Rahul Tripathi 81(51), Pat Cummins 17(9), Dwayne Bravo 3-37 and Karn Sharma 2-25] defeated CSK 157/5 [Shane Watson 50(40), Ambati Rayudu 30(27), Andre Russell 1-18 and Nagarkoti 1-21]