The robust duo of Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh did it for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) as they rocked Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by six wickets in a must-win Indian Premier League (IPL) game at the Chepauk Stadium on Sunday (May 14).
Riding on a sensible knock from Shivam Dube (48 off 34) CSK posted a modest total of 144/6. Sunil Narine (2/15) and Varun Chakaravarthy (2/36) spun a web around CSK's batters with their exceptional bowling. In reply, half centurion knocks from Rana and Rinku ensured KKR's facile victory over the four-time champions to keep themselves afloat in the playoff race.
With 15 points in 13 games, CSK are unaffected at no.2 on the points table while KKR have garnered 12 points in 13 ties to sit seventh in the standings.
While chasing a modest total of 144/6, KKR got off to a shaky start as they lost their star opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the first over itself as he holed out to Matheesha Pathirana off Deepak Chahar's (3/27) bowl after scoring just 1 off 4. Jason Roy was joined by Venkatesh Iyer as the duo tried to get KKR back on track. But Chahar came back to land another blow to KKR in his second over, this time to get rid of Iyer who handed a catch to CSK's safest fielder Ravindra Jadeja, who seldom misses any. Iyer failed to go big and could only score 9 off 4 to leave KKR reeling at 21/2 after 2.5 overs. Roy was the next batter to return to pavilion as Chahar got his third scalp back-to-back to bring CSK back into the game yet again.
It was all upto KKR skipper Nitish Rana (57 off 44) and Rinku Singh (54 off 43) then, who helped KKR recover from early jolts and steadied team's boat. The dazzling duo of Rana and Rinku played sensibly and kept the scoreboard ticking. They stitched together an impressive 99-run partnership to take the game away from CSK. While Rana cracked six fours and a six, Rinku smashed four boundaries and three maximums in their impressive knocks. Rinku however got run out in the 18th over but till then it was all over for CSK. Rana hit the winning boundary before Andre Russell (2 off 2) could even start swinging his bat.
Earlier, MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat first. However, Dhoni's decision to come late in the batting backfired as the Yellow Army couldn't recover from back to back jolts to get reduced to 144/6. Dhoni walked down the middle at no.7 but couldn't do much and remained unbeated on 2 off 3.
At the end of 11 overs, CSK were reeling 72/5 but Shivam Dube held the other end and went on to score 48 off 34 riding on a four and three sixes to steer CSK to a modest total in the company of Ravindra Jadeja (20 off 24). The pair weaved a partnership of 68 runs for the sixth wicket to steady CSK's boat on a sluggish pitch.
Narine (2/15) and Varun (2/36) brought their spin wizardry to the fore to put a leash on CSK batter. Shardul Thakur (3-0-15-1) and Vaibhav Arora (1/30) too chipped in with a wicket apiece for KKR. CSK were down at 99/5 after 16 overs but Dube changed gear and combined with Jadeja to garner 16 and 15 runs off Suyash Sharma's 16th and Chakaravarthy's 17th over respectively.
Before Dube and Jadeja launched a fightback, Narine and Chakravarthy tightened screw on CSK batters in the middle of the innings.
Chakravarthy gave KKR their first breakthrough after sending Ruturaj Gaikwad (17, 13 balls, 2x4) packing as the CSK batter to edge one to Arora in the fourth over. Devon Conway and Ajinkya Rahane bolstered CSK's innings and collected 52 runs in the first six overs.
While Conway continued his good form and found the boundary whenever the bowlers erred in line and length, Rahane's new-found confidence in T20s came to the fore as he smacked Harshit Rane for six in the fifth over. Conway earned a reprieve when he got a LBW decision overturned via DRS after being adjudged out off Chakravarthy.
Rahane fell trying to force the pace, unable to clear the boundary off Chakravarthy. Conway top-edged a pull to Rinku Singh in the deep off Thakur after making 30. Notably, Ambati Rayudu continued his lean patch and surrendered to hand Narine his first wicket after scoring just 4 runs. Narine snared Moeel Ali's wicket to leave CSK wobbling at 72/5 at the end of 11 overs. However, no other CSK team managed a score of more than 20 runs.
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