NE SPORTS BUREAU
ABU DHABI, OCT 7
Kolkatta Knight Riders (KKR) returned to winning ways as they beat Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by 10 runs in Match 21 of the Dream11 Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
Rahul Tripathi, coming into this game on the back of his 16-ball 36-run knock against Delhi Capitals, opened the innings alongside Shubman Gill after KKR elected to bat.
The move top of the order worked for KKR as Tripathi scored 23 off the 36 runs that KKR scored in the first four overs. The Tripathi-Gill partnership was broken in the fifth over as Shardul Thakur dismissed Gill after the right-hander edged one to MS Dhoni.
Tripathi, though continued to score freely. He hit Deepak Chahar for a six over the off-side as KKR moved past fifty in the final over of the powerplay.
Karn Sharma, who was brought into the side in place of Piyush Chawla, gave CSK their second breakthrough in the ninth over as Nitish Rana was holed out in the deep.
Tripathi, then brought up his fifty in the 10th over before Sunil Narine, who walked out to bat at number 4, hit a six and a four off Dwayne Bravo as KKR scored 19 off from the over to move past 90.
Sharma picked his second wicket of the match, courtesy a brilliant relay catch in the deep from Ravindra Jadeja and Faf du Plessis. Jadeja, at deep mid-wicket, dived parallel to the ground, held on to the ball. But as he was closer the boundary rope after the dive, had the awareness to throw it towards du Plessis, who completed the catch.
KKR were 98/3 from 12 overs when Narine had got out and had the likes of Eoin Morgan, Andre Russell and Dinesh Karthik still to bat. But
While Tripathi continued his impressive showing with the bat, CSK managed to pull back things, dismissing Morgan and Russell in the space of 14 runs. Curran dismissed Morgan for 7 with a short ball before Thakur got Russell out for 2 in the 16th over.
Bravo, then ended Tripathi’s 51-ball 81-run innings after the right-hander was caught the short third-man.
Cummins then hit a four and a six in the 18th over, but CSK continued to chip away as Curran had Kathik caught at third man. Bravo picked two wickets in his last over as CSK bowled out KKR for 167.
While bowlers shared the spoils with Bravo picking three wickets and Curran, Thakur and Sharma scalping two wickets each, Dhoni took 4 catches and was involved in one run-out.
In the chase, CSK were off the blocks quickly as du Plessis and Shane Watson took off from where they had left against Kings XI Punjab, reaching 30/0 from 3.3 overs.
But Shivam Mavi gave KKR their first breakthrough, dismissing du Plessis for 17. Watson, though continued in the same vein while Rayudu got going straightaway as CSK brought up their fifty in the powerplay.
The Watson-Rayudu pair completed the fifty-run stand in the 10th over. Soon after Watson hit two fours to move closer to his fifty as CSK reached the 90-run mark.
KKR picked their second wicket as Kamlesh Nagarkoti dismissed Rayudu for 30 in the 13th over.
Watson, meanwhile, brought up his second successive half-century of the IPL 2020 before the strategic time-out. But Narine trapped Watson before the wickets soon after as CSK lost two wickets in the space of two overs.
CSK needed 58 from the last 5 overs and Curran targeted Narine, hitting a six and a four to bring down the target to 44 from the last four overs.
Varun Chakravarthy bowled the 17th over and got the big wicket of Dhoni after the CSK skipper got out for 11. KKR brought Russell into the attack in the 18th over and he struck on his first ball, scalping Curran’s wicket and conceded not more than three runs.
With 36 required from the last two overs, CSK hit two fours in the penultimate over bowled by Narine. Russell, then bowled two dot balls at the start of the final over, and while Jadeja hit two fours and a six, KKR sealed a 10-run win.
Brief Scores:
Kolkata Knight Riders 167 all out (Rahul Tripathi 81, Pat Cummins 17*; Dwayne Bravo 3/37) beat Chennai Super Kings 157/5 (Shane Watson 50, Ambati Rayudu 30; Varun Chakravarthy 1/28) by 10 runs.
