Chennai is already out of the tournament but it is now making the league interesting by beating top teams of the season. In the last match, they defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore and this time, they crushed Kolkata Knight Riders. A brilliant knock from Ruturaj Gaikwad (72) and timely performances by Ambati Rayudu (38) and Ravindra Jadeja (31*) ensured a six-wicket win for CSK. Nitish Rana’s (87) superb performance for KKR went in vain though. With this result, Mumbai Indians became the first team to qualify for the playoffs. Meanwhile, KKR has made things difficult for themselves by losing the game.
After winning the toss, MS Dhoni said that CSK will bowl first. KKR made use of this opportunity as openers Shubman Gill and Nitish Rana gave a good start for their side. They made a partnership of 53 runs for the first wicket. CSK then came back to the game by dismissing Gill and Sunil Narine in the consecutive overs. After that, new entrant Rinku Singh gave support to Rana for a while. Jadeja got the wicket of Rinku in the 13th over. Meanwhile, Rana played some exquisite shots and completed his half-century. He fell in the 18th over after making 87 runs. In the end, KKR managed to score 172/5 in 20 overs.
Even CSK got a good start from its openers Shane Watson and Ruturaj Gaikwad, who made a partnership of 50 runs for the first wicket. After Watson’s dismissal, Gaikwad made a 68-run stand with Ambati Rayudu. When it looked like CSK will cruise past the victory, KKR came back in style by dismissing Rayudu, Dhoni and Gaikwad in the regular intervals. That pushed CSK into huge trouble. They needed 30 runs off the last two overs. That’s when Ravindra Jadeja took the responsibility and made sure to win the game for his team. His fantastic batting effort helped CSK to win on the last ball. Thus, they have scored 178/4 in 20 overs.
Scorecard:
Kolkata Knight Riders: 172/5 (N Rana 87, S Gill 26, L Ngidi 2/34)
Chennai Super Kings: 178/4 (R Gaikwad 72, A Rayudu 38, V Chakravarthy 2/20)