Chennai Super Kings managed to narrowly edge Kolkata Knight Riders at Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday. MS Dhoni’s men made it three wins in a row in IPL 2021 by defending a score of 220 runs by just 18 runs. A resilient performance from the lower middle order from KKR made sure that they remained in the hunt until the final over of the game.
Kolkata started the chase in the most horrific manner. Shubman Gill was dismissed for a golden duck in the first over of the innings. KKR kept on losing wickets during powerplay overs as they were reduced to 31/5 by the end of the sixth over. Deepak Chahar was the wrecker in chief as he took four wickets in the powerplay.
At that time, KKR looked dead and buried, but Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell, and Pat Cummins had other plans. Russell went berserk in Wankhede as he raced to his half-century in 21 deliveries, smashing half a dozen sixes and three boundaries. Just when the game was going away from CSK, Russell had a brain fade. On Sam Curran’s bowling, he came across his off stump and left the ball which he felt was going down the leg side. However, Curran was bowling stump to stump line so it crashed into leg stump.
Karthik also scored quickfire 40 runs in 24 deliveries before getting undone by a slower delivery by Lungi Ngidi. Once again it felt that CSK had the game in the pocket, but Cummins created havoc in Wankhede by hammering 30 runs against Curran in one over. The Australian batsmen notched up a fine half-century, but lack of partners at the other end meant that KKR fell short in the end.
Earlier in the evening, Chennai’s top order clicked at the same time. Under pressure batsman, Ruturaj Gaikwad notched up a superb half-century and managed to stitch a century stand with Faf du Plessis. The South African carried his bat through the innings by scoring 95 runs in 60 balls. Quick cameos from Moeen Ali and MS Dhoni helped CSK to post a mammoth score of 220 runs. Courtesy of this victory, CSK moved top of the points table in IPL 2021, while KKR remain sixth with two points.
Scorecard
Chennai Super Kings: 220/3 (Faf du Plessis 95(60), Ruturaj Gaikwad 64(42), Varun Chakravarthy (1/27), Sunil Narine (1/34))
Kolkata Knight Riders: 202/10 (Pat Cummins 66(34), Andre Russell 54(22), Deepak Chahar (4/29), Lungi Ngidi (3/28))