In the 61st match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) beat Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by six wickets at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. They have secured their sixth win of the season.
CSK skipper MS Dhoni opted to bat first on a typical Chepauk deck. The home side had a mild start in the powerplay, but the wickets falling in succession had dented the scoring rate, however, a gritty knock from Shivam Dube helped the four-time winners to reach the total of 144/6 in their given 20 overs.
While chasing, the Kolkata-based side did not have a very well-off start, as Deepak Chahar scalped the wickets of both the openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz (1), Jason Roy (12), as well as Venkatesh Iyer (9) which gave an opportunity for the Chennai-based team to take an upper hand in this encounter, But captain Nitish Rana (57)* and the in-form southpaw batter, Rinku Singh (54) did not let the hosts consolidate their grip over the game, and stitched 99 runs partnership, which helped the two-time winners to snatch the game from the jaws of Chennai. However, Rinku got run out in the 17th over, but he had completed his responsibility for he was sent in. In the end, Rana and Andre Russell (2) * completed this chase of 145 runs in 18.3 overs.
CSK with the ball had a very ordinary day, but Chahar was the shining spot as he secured three wickets.
In the first innings, CSK had a good start, but Kolkata got the wicket of Ruturaj Gaikwad (17) in the fourth over, as Varun Chakaravarthy dismissed him and broke the opening partnership of 33 runs. Devon Conway (30) was standing in the middle, but the wickets were stumbling in quick succession which had dented the scoring rate of CSK, but a gritty knock from Shivam (48)* helped the host to a respectable but low-par total.
With the ball for, Chakaravarthy and Sunil Narine claimed two wickets each, whereas Vaibhav Arora and Shardul Thakur got one wicket respectively.
Rinku Singh was adjudged Player of the Match for his counter-attacking knock of 54 runs, which had four fours and three sixes.
Scorecard:
Chennai Super Kings: 144/6, Overs 20, Shivam Dube 48*, Sunil Narine 2/15
Kolkata Knight Riders: 147/4, Overs 18.3, Nitish Rana 57*, Deepak Chahar 3/27